R.I. sees ‘consistent acceleration’ in home price drop

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Rhode Island’s rate of home-price depreciation in March made it the only state among the five with the highest depreciation rates that “continues to experience a consistent acceleration in price declines,” according to a report released this week by First American CoreLogic, a real estate tracking firm.
Rhode Island sale prices in March were falling at an annual rate of 21.2 percent, giving it the third highest rate in the country. Ahead of it were California’s 24.9 percent and Nevada’s 25.9 percent, according to CoreLogic.
Housing prices fell in 44 states in March and dropped at a national annual rate of 11.5 percent.
“Home prices continued to decline in March, but the real story was the geographic dispersion of home price declines, meaning that the problems are no longer confined to a handful of ‘Sand States,’ ” CoreLogic Chief Economist Mark Fleming said in a statement. “Homeowners in many parts of the country are coming under stress from a loss in equity, rising delinquencies and foreclosures, and economic uncertainty.”
First American CoreLogic, a member of The First American Corp. group of companies, is a national provider of real estate, property and ownership data. It collects data from 7,569 ZIP codes in the 50 states and Washington, D.C. For more information, visit www.CoreLogic.com.