Standard and Poor’s reports(.pdf) that U.S. home prices continued their recent decline, the Case-Shiller 20-City Home Price Index down 1.0 percent from October to November on an unadjusted basis, now 1.6 percent lower than a year ago. On a seasonally adjusted basis, the 20-city index was down 0.5 percent in November.

All but one region saw price declines, San Diego home prices rising 0.1 percent for the month, while declines were paced by Detroit (-2.7 percent), Atlanta (-2.5 percent), and Chicago (-2.2 percent). David M. Blitzer, Chairman of the Index Committee at Standard & Poor’s noted the following regarding the much talked about housing “double-dip”:

With these numbers more analysts will be calling for a double-dip in home prices. Let’s take a moment to define a double-dip as seeing the 10- and 20-City Composites set new post-peak lows. The series are now only 4.8% and 3.3% above their April 2009 lows, suggesting that a double-dip could be confirmed before Spring. Certainly eight cities setting new lows, and with the only positive news concentrated in southern California and Washington DC, the data point to weakness in home prices.

Well, that’s one way to define a double-dip – others would argue that it’s already here. Note that the Case-Shiller data is not only reported with a two-month delay but, since it is a three-month average, the November report contains price data for both September and October. Other, more timely, reports on home prices have shown further declines.