America's falling house prices: By the numbers

The American housing crisis is worsening. Prices are tumbling, not only in familiar trouble areas like Nevada and Michigan, but also in cities previously thought to be immune from the crash — Denver, Chicago and Atlanta. All this bad news is leading to fears that the U.S. is heading to the second half of a "double dip" recession. Here, a look at the numbers behind America's falling house prices.

19

Number of cities out of 20 tracked by Standard & Poor's/Case-Schiller in which home prices fell during January

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0.1 percent

Growth at which house prices grew during January in the one city that was the exception (Washington, D.C.)

3.1 percent

The overall drop in home prices in those 20 cities from January 2010 to January 2011

11 out of 20

Number of cities in which house prices are at their lowest point since April 2009 — the point at which the housing bubble burst. These include Charlotte N.C., Miami, Fla., and New York.

250,000

Number of new single-family houses sold in the U.S. in February 2011

308,000

Number of new single-family houses sold in the U.S. in February 2010

$202,100

Median price of new houses sold in February 2011

$220,500

Median price of new houses sold in February 2010

4.88 million

Number of existing homes sold from February 2010 to February 2011

5.02 million

Number of existing homes sold from February 2009 to February 2010

$156,100

Median price of existing homes sold in February 2011

$165,100

Median price of existing homes sold in February 2010

39 percent

Share of existing homes sold from February 2010 to February 2011 that were distressed, or sold at a discount. The figure was 35 percent in 2010.

13 percent

The share of homes in the U.S. that are currently vacant. Many foreclosed homes are sitting on the market, keeping sale prices and property values low.

8.6 percent

The drop in the consumer confidence index in March, the largest decline in a year

15 percent

Share of Americans who think their incomes will increase over the next six months. "Buying a house is a mix of faith and necessity," says David Streitfeld at The New York Times. These numbers indicate "that first element is scarce these days."

Sources: New York Times, Yahoo! News (2), U.S. Census, MarketWatch, National Association of Realtors