US home prices fell sharply in May by a record 15.8 per cent, according to data released on Tuesday, offering scant evidence that the ailing US housing industry is on the path to recovery.

The closely-followed Standard & Poor's Case-Shiller index, which tracks home prices in 20 large US cities, had fallen by 15.3 per cent in April, setting the earlier high-water mark for decreases on a year-on-year basis.

All 20 metropolitan areas surveyed experienced price declines over the year, with the worst drop - 28.4 per cent - in Las Vegas. The most modest decline – 0.2 per cent - was in Charlotte, North Carolina.

The data marked a slight improvement over economists' average expectations of a 16 per cent fall in the 20-city index.

There was also some room for encouragement in the data on a monthly level, where prices dropped by 0.9 per cent between April and May – a flatter pace than the 1.4 per cent decrease between March and April and a 2.2 per cent drop between February and March. Seven cities, including Minneapolis and Denver, saw prices rise on a monthly basis, compared to eight in the previous report.

Continued at FT.com