Home Prices Hit Lowest Level since Housing Crisis — Have We Hit Bottom Yet?

U.S. home prices ended 2011 at the lowest levels since mid-2006, according to Standard & Poor’s Case-Shiller home-price indexes.

According to the national composite index, home prices are now down 33.8% from their peak in the second quarter of 2006, when the housing bubble began to burst.   Atlanta, Las Vegas, Seattle and Tampa home prices in particular have dropped to new lows.

Price were down in 19 of the 20 cities tracked in December compared to a year ago.  Only Detroit posted a year-over-year increase.

This data is a bit of a lagging indicator.  While prices may not go up dramatically in the future, the sense is that homes will likely not lose much more value.

Warren Buffett for instance said Monday that a distressed home with a 30 year fixed mortgage is a great investment right now.  Robert Shiller one of the co-authors of this report said on CNBC this morning that he basically agrees with this assessment.

Of course the catch is can you get a mortgage?