SmartHomeOwners

NEW YORK:  Home prices are dropping in America's largest cities and are expected to fall through next year, with the worst declines coming in areas with high numbers of foreclosures.

The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller 20-city home price index fell 1.3 per cent in October from September. All cities recorded monthly price declines.

Atlanta recorded the largest decline. Prices there fell 2.9 per cent from a month earlier.

Washington, which had posted increases for six straight months, dropped 0.2 per cent in October.

The 20-city index has risen 4.4 per cent from their April 2009 bottom. But it remains 29.6 per cent below its July 2006 peak.