The latest release of the Case-Shiller index shows that house prices in the US have now fallen in every month for the past two years.

The price of an average US home on the 20 city index measure is now 19.5% cheaper than it was in August 2006.

But in some cities prices have fallen significantly more.

If you gambled on buying a house in Las Vagas in December 2006, you would have lost 34.5% of your stake.

In Phoenix, house prices would have to rise by 52% to get back to where they were in two summers ago.

Meanwhile, in Miami the vice of the credit crunch has squeezed prices by a third.

But for US homeowners it is no joke as there is no end in sight to the downward trend.