Biggest Drop in Home Prices Since Great Depression

From MSNBC.com:

Home prices plunge as sales slow sharply.

Median price for existing homes falls record 13% to $181,000

Sales of new and existing homes plummeted in November, as buyers stayed out of the market amid the growing financial crisis and deepening recession, according to figures released Tuesday.

Sales of existing homes fell 8.6 percent, far more than expected, to an annual rate of 4.49 million in November, from a downwardly revised pace of 4.91 million in October. The median sales price fell 13.2 percent — the largest amount on record — to $181,300, from $208,000 a year ago.

That was the lowest price since February 2004 and the biggest year-over-year drop on records going back to 1968. The drop in home prices was probably the largest since the Great Depression, NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun told reporters. [more]