Home Prices Fall 4.8 Percent In May

U.S. home prices fell 4.8 percent in May from a year earlier, according to the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, as banks restricted lending in the second year of a worldwide credit crunch.

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The worst U.S. housing slump in more than a quarter of a century is deepening as banks rein in mortgage lending after recording more than $400 billion in home loan-related losses and writedowns.

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The median U.S. home price probably will tumble 6.2 percent in 2008 to $205,300, the realtors group said in its forecast. Last year's 1.4 percent drop was the first national decline in the U.S. median since the Great Depression, according to Lawrence Yun, chief economist of the housing group.