Home prices are falling in most major U.S. cities, as reported by Bloomberg BusinessWeek. At least 10 major U.S. markets, including New York, are at their lowest point since the housing boom of 2006-2007. According to The Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller city index, home prices fell in 19 out of the 20 major cities. The record number of foreclosures is to blame for the decline in home prices in all of these cities except for Detroit, which was the only market to show a monthly gain.

According to Housing Predictor, Freddie Mac purchased fewer loans in March and reduced its share of the mortgage market. The number of mortgages Freddie Mac bought in March dropped 4.7% to $2.14 trillion. Citing the bills in Congress to abolish, or at least reform, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac is now on a path to reduce the number of mortgages it buys. The unpaid principal balance of Freddie Mac- and Fannie Mae-related home mortgages in their portfolios fell $4.1 billion as lenders were forced to buy back more mortgages that were determined to be underwritten at low quality levels.

Mortgage delinquencies on single-family homes dropped in March, as did first-quarter homeowner vacancies, as reported by Realtor.org. Delinquencies on single-family homes fell to 3.63% last month compared to 3.78% in February, as reported by Freddie Mac. Meanwhile, overall vacancies remain high, even though the percentage of empty homes dropped in the first three months of the year. The South held the highest rates for the first quarter with 2.8%, followed by the Midwest with 2.7%.

MarketWatch recently reported that the average mortgage rates fell again. According to the latest Freddie Mac survey, the average rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was 4.78% for the week ending April 28, down from 4.8% in the previous week. Meanwhile, the rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages fell from 4.02% last week to 3.97% this week. This week’s rate was at its lowest level since early December 2010.