Case Shiller Index: Home Prices Down Despite Incentives

If you were looking for good news about the housing market, you're in the wrong week. After yesterday's depressing data about April's rising inventories, the S&P Case Shiller Home Price Index today released its influential price index for March.

The highlight (or rather low point): Prices of single-family homes fell 0.5 percent from February, which is the sixth month-on-month drop after what felt like a mini-recovery last fall. This is especially worrisome since prices should have seen some kind of a boost from record low mortgage rates and Obama's home-buyer tax-credit which expired in April.

But they didn't.

So what does this mean for home buyers and sellers?