Both of the composite indices are now reporting annual declines in excess of 12.5%. The 10-City Composite posted a new record low annual decline of 13.6%, and the 20-City Composite recorded an annual decline of 12.7%.

“There is no sign of a bottom in the numbers,” says David M. Blitzer, Chairman of the Index Committee at Standard & Poor's. “Prices of single family homes continue to drop across the nation. All 20 metro areas were in the red for the February-over-January reading. In addition, 19 of the 20 MSAs are still reporting negative annual returns. The monthly data show that every one of the MSAs has now declined every month since September 2007, marking six consecutive months. On top of that, remained steep w the declines have with eight of the 20 MSAs and both composites reporting their single largest monthly decline in February.”

Las Vegas and Miami continue to share the dubious distinction of being the weakest markets over the past 12 months returning -22.8% and -21.7%, respectively. These two markets witnessed some of the fastest growth in the 2004/2005 periods, with annual growth rates peaking above +50% and +30%, respectively.

For the month of February, markets in the West were the biggest decliners.  San Francisco, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles were the worst performers.  Each had a negative return in excess of 4%. Charlotte remains the only the only market that has a positive return over the past 12 months, but it too has seen negative returns in each of the last six months and is in the midst of growth deceleration.