Older areas are closer to the Dallas city center and have higher land values. Older homes tend to be smaller though and cost lost on an individual basis.

We just got the latest S&P/Case-Shiller figures, this time for May. S&P/ Case-Shiller monitors 20 regions and all of them showed record decline in housing prices. Here is what the numbers showed:

The MBA’s mortgage application index fell nearly 10% last week driven down by the highest interest rates in a year. High rates, coupled with declining property values and tighter underwriting guidelines continue to put pressure on the mortgage market.

The Case-Shiller housing index showed declines in home prices of 14% year-over-year and 6.7% from the fourth quarter. Las Vegas led the pack with a 26% drop, followed by Miami and Phoenix with 25% and 23% declines respectively.

The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight(OFHEO) just released their seasonally-adjusted purchase-only house price index. The index fell 1.7% in the first quarter compared to Q4 of 2007. Over the past year, home prices fell 3.1%. This is the largest decline in the purchase-only index’s 17-year history.

Even home and real estate listings at the $100 million level are seeing declines.

Every time I read one of these stories on housing price data, it takes me back to the required reading in my college political science statistics class:

Zillow posted some interesting analysis today in which they claim that 50% of all home buyers who purchased a home in 2006 are now in a negative equity situation - underwater. That’s a mind-boggling stat don’t you think?

Unfortunately, the bad housing numbers keep coming almost on a daily basis. Today, the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Prices Index was released and, as expected, the news are grim. The index shows declines in the prices of existing single family homes across the United States worsened in February 2008, with 17 of the 20 now reporting MSAs posting record low annual declines, 10 of which are in the double digits.

WSJ reports that the good side of the real estate crisis is that it allows some people to buy houses and become homeowners.

Falling home prices are putting pressure on homeowners across the country. What do the declining home values mean to your Revere Mortgage or your chances of getting one.