Which US cities offer the best value for money home-wise

Housing prices are falling in most major United States cities, and average home prices in four of those cities are at their lowest level in a little over a decade. The S&P/Case Shiller twenty-city index shows declining prices in nineteen of those twenty cities from December 2010 to January 2011, and eleven of those are at an all-time low since the housing bubble burst in 2007.

The housing price index fell for the sixth straight month, and housing values in Cleveland, Atlanta, Detroit and Las Vegas are now below where they were in the beginning of 2000. The only city where housing prices rose was Washington, where a modest gain of .10% took place. By most accounts, the housing recession is not over, and there aren't any statistics indicating a recovery as of yet.

The pain isn't being felt all over, though. It is a lot worse in cities where short sales and foreclosures are inundating the market and driving down home prices (such as Cleveland and Detroit, which are contending with weak economies). Places like Atlanta, Las Vegas, Miami and Phoenix are trying to recover from a construction glut that took place during the housing boom.

A lot of cities in California are faring much better; San Diego was the only city other than Washington to post a gain. Home prices in DC are up 3.6% from last year, and have risen almost 11% since hitting bottom in March of 2009. Among the cities on the list, DC's housing prices have fared the best since 2000, appreciating by 84%. The report mentioned above measured housing price increases and declines relative to January 2000 prices, and offered a 3-month average for each city.