Housing Prices Hit New Recession Low

The housing industry keeps finding new lows: Today's Case-Shiller price index shows that prices fell in the first quarter to the lowest levels since the crash began, reports the Wall Street Journal. The drop of 4.2%, on top of last quarter's 3.6% drop, is evidence of a "double dip in home prices across much of the nation," says an S&P official. The percentage of homeowners, meanwhile, has fallen to 66.4%, on par with levels in 1998, reports the New York Times. That's down from 69.2% in 2004.

Even with the lower prices, prospective buyers aren't jumping in. "The emotional scars left by the collapse are changing the American psyche,” the chief executive of industry website Trulia tells the Times. “There was a time when owning a home was a symbol you had made it. Now it’s OK not to own." (More housing industry stories.)