US house prices are in a double dip that has erased all of their bounce since the recession and threatens to derail a stuttering economic recovery.

美国房价二次探底，尽失经济衰退过后的全部涨幅，并可能导致走走停停的经济复苏偏离轨道。

The S&P/Case-Shiller house price index fell by 4.2 per cent in the first quarter of 2011, breaking through a 2009 low to hit its weakest level since 2002.

2011年第一季度，S&P/Case-Shiller房价指数下跌4.2%，跌穿2009年的低点，创下2002年以来最低水平。

Declining house prices may cause households to rein in both consumption and home buying plans, leading to further falls in house prices and overall weakness in the economy.

房价下跌可能促使家庭抑制消费、延缓购房计划，从而导致房价进一步下跌，造成总体经济疲弱。

House prices are now 33 per cent below their peak in 2006 – a sharper fall than the 31 per cent drop recorded during the Great Depression, according to analysts at Capital Economics.

据凯投宏观(Capital Economics)分析师表示，目前房价比2006年达到的峰值水平下跌了33%，跌幅超过“大萧条”时期的31%。

Prajakta Bhide, an analyst at Roubini Global Economics in New York, reiterated a forecast of a year-on-year fall in house prices of about 8 per cent for 2011, but said that “we have to be worried about prices overshooting on the downside”.

纽约鲁比尼全球经济咨询公司(Roubini Global Economics)分析师普拉嘉可塔•拜德(Prajakta Bhide)重申2011年房价将同比下跌8%左右的预测，但表示“我们不得不担心房价超跌的情况”。

House prices dropped in 18 out of 20 cities in March. The worst decline was in Minneapolis, where prices fell 3.7 per cent, while the biggest gain was in Washington, where they rose 1.1 per cent.

3月份，20个城市中有18个城市房价出现下跌。其中跌幅最大的是明尼阿波利斯，为3.7%；涨幅最大的是华盛顿，为1.1%。

However, the rate of decline stabilised, suggesting the fall in prices is not getting any worse.

不过跌速已经企稳，似乎表明房价下跌情况并未进一步恶化。

Based on measures such as the ratio of prices to rents, housing was somewhere close to fair value, Ms Bhide said, but it was more important to look at the overall health of the recovery.

拜德表示，根据房价/租金比之类的指标，房价已接近公平价值，但更重要的是看总体经济复苏状况。