The broad downturn in the residential real estate market continues. There are very few, if any, pockets of turnaround that one can see in the data.

—David Blitzer, chairman of the index committee at S&P

Case Shiller

• November YoY decline: 18.2%
• December yoY decline: 18.5%
  • It has fallen every month since January 2007
  • Consense was 18.3%

…and consumer confidence — 25

…and 47.8% said jobs are hard to get, the highest since 1992

As long as home prices are falling, the financial system and the economy will continue to unravel. It will cost millions of tax dollars to try to prevent additional foreclosures from coming on the market and gutting prices further, but it will cost millions more if we do nothing.

—Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Economy.com