NEW YORK – U.S. home prices fell 1.4 percent in the first quarter compared with a year ago, the first time since 1991 that prices have shown a quarterly decline, according to a housing index released Tuesday by Standard & Poor’s.

“We still don’t see anything that looks like a clear bottom,” S&P index committee chairman David Blitzer said. “We’re still headed down.”

The S&P/Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index showed the 1.4 percent drop in the price for sales of existing single-family homes in metropolitan markets in nine U.S. census divisions.

Further evidence of a Denver-area housing market slump came in two reports released on Tuesday.The Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller home price index showed Denver-area prices fell 2 percent in the first quarter, compared with 1.4 percent for the top 20 metropolitan areas.

A separate report shows a 35.4 percent year-over-year decline in Denver metro new home sales in April.

Nationally, the last time there was an overall drop in the home-price index was the third quarter of 1991.

However, Denver-area resale homes didn’t fall as much as previously hot markets, such as Boston, Phoenix, San Diego, San Francisco, Tampa and Washington, D.C., according to first-quarter data in the index.

Most of us have at least one mortgage these days, but there is so much
confusion over the interest.  It seems like by the time you’ve paid off
your mortgage the interest costs more than your home.  I would love to
know how the interest is calculated and how it can end up being way
more than the home.  Also what is the difference between your APR and your
interest rate.  Please help.
Jennifer in NC

Like so many people, Jennifer was surprised when she got past the ‘easy
monthly payment’ and started learning about mortgages. Let’s see if we
can’t help her to understand the basics of interest and APR (annual
percentage rate).

It was a busy April weekend — the height of spring break — and there was barely a hotel room to be found in all of Orlando, much less one at a bargain price.

So, how could I be staying in a three-bedroom luxury townhome — with plasma TVs in every room and a plush clubhouse within walking distance — for a mere $150 a night? That’s easy: I played the game.

If your idea of finding lodging in Orlando is doing a quick search on the Internet, then picking the cheapest option, chances are you’re paying way too much.

Dawn Meyers is thrilled to have dismounted at last from the theme park/water park summer treadmill.”When we lived in Minnetonka,” she said, “we’d spend a fortune on water park passes, Valleyfair passes, and then you’d feel like you have to go, and you’d need to get there in the car, which would take forever. And some places won’t let you take lunch in!”

Today: Not a problem. Credit River Territory, her family’s new neighborhood in rural Scott County, has its own private water park and a massive clubhouse. It’s a communal gathering place that another recent buyer, Dona Moon, describes as “like being in Colorado, at a real lodge — only it’s yours.”