Home Prices Fall To Worse On Record

Home prices fell by the most on record, and a housing recession is going into 2009.

Purchases of existing homes declined 3.1 percent last month to an annual rate of 4.98 million units, the National Association of Realtors said today in Washington. The median price fell 11.3 percent to $183,300 from a year earlier, the largest year-over-year decrease since records started in 1968.

Mounting foreclosures are pushing down home prices and adding to the inventory of unsold houses. Sales may slump further as the worst credit crisis in seven decades makes banks reluctant to offer mortgages.