October Home Prices Post Record Decline (Stephen Bernard)

Foreclosure Notice

NEW YORK (AP) -- U.S. home prices fell in October for the 10th consecutive month, posting their biggest monthly decline since early 1991, according to the Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller home price index.

The record 6.7 percent drop marked the 23rd consecutive month of price deceleration.

"No matter how you look at these data, it is obvious that the current state of the single-family housing market remains grim," said Robert Shiller, who helped create the index, in a statement Wednesday.

The previous record decline was a drop of 6.3 percent, recorded in April 1991.

The S&P/Case-Shiller home price index tracks prices of existing single-family homes in 10 metropolitan areas compared with a year earlier. A broader index of 20 metropolitan areas fell 6.1 percent. Among the 20 metropolitan areas used in the broader index, 11 posted record monthly declines.