A closely watched index shows prices in 14 metropolitan areas had double-digit declines from November 2007. Markets were most depressed in Southern California, Florida, and the Southwest.

Home values in 20 of America’s biggest metropolitan areas fell even further recently – prices dropped 18.2 percent in November from the prior year, the steepest plunge on record according to the Standard & Poor’s Case-Shiller Home Price Index.

Prices in 11 of the 20 metropolitan areas surveyed fell at record rates and 14 areas reported double-digit declines.

In the Phoenix metro area, home prices fell 32.9 percent in November from a year earlier, they tumbled 31.6 percent in Las Vegas, and they dropped 30.8 percent in San Francisco.

None of the 20 cities in the index posted a gain in prices from October to November, or from November 2007 to November 2008. Denver and Dallas (the only Texas city on the index) fared the least poorly, with home prices falling 4.3 percent and 3.3 percent, respectively.

Consumer confidence continued to fall in January, hitting a new low of 37.7 – only 6.4 percent of 5,000 households surveyed reported that business conditions were good. Unemployment has risen to 7.2 percent, employers are trimming workweeks and laying off workers by the thousands, and retirement accounts have been devastated by the turmoil in the financial markets.

The continued erosion of housing values poses a threat to millions of Americans who overextended themselves financially to take on mortgages or home equity loans, betting that an uninterrupted rise in home prices would keep them above water.

Wave of home foreclosures ripples beyond urban cores - Kansas City ...

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