U.S. home value declines across country

Washington -- The value of U.S. homes fell 10.4 percent in the first quarter, fueling the sharpest annual decline since 1971, the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. said.

The decline in the Conventional Mortgage Home Price Index averaged 4.4 percent in the past four quarters, the largest annual decline in 39 years, Freddie Mac said Thursday.

The lenders CMHPI "Classic Series," which includes home purchases and mortgage refinancing fell 2.4 percent on an annualized bases, the statement said.

"Particularly striking has been the depth and breadth of home-value decline across the U.S." chief economist at Freddie Mac Frank Nothaft said.

"In the past, we have seen regions that were still appreciating while the national average had registered a decline," he said.

Not so, this time.

In this quarter, all nine regions of the country saw home values fall, the report said.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International.