The Observer hopes everyone is having a happy holidays, because the new year continues to look bleak for the American homeowner, and really the rest of the country as a result.
Foreclosures are set to spike and predictions abound of plummeting home prices. Those predictions are becoming a reality as the S&P/Case-Shiller home price index slid for the fourth straight month in October, according to numbers released today.
To make matters worse, the Case-Shiller declined further than expected, according to Reuters, down 1 percent for the month as opposed to the expected 0.6. It is down 0.8 percent for the year. Making economic matters worse, the consumer confidence index also fell.
“The double-dip is almost here,” David Blitzer, chairman of the Index Committee at Standard & Poor’s, told CNN. “There is no good news in October’s report. Home prices across the country continue to fall.”
In the New York metro area, one of the 20 surveyed by Case-Shiller, prices dropped even further than the national average, down 1.6 percent.
Not surprisingly, “Dr. Doom” Nouriel Roubini continues to beat the drum of a disastrous double-dip–making his decision to buy a $5.5 million East Village apartment earlier this month look all the more foolish.