Tampa area home-price declines moderate

We all know homes prices are falling, and that hasn't changed. But the pace of monthly drops is slowing, and experts say that's a sign we're getting closer to the end of price declines.

Sales prices in the Tampa metro area fell 2.7 percent in February, compared to the previous month, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller home-price index, released today by Standard & Poor's. That's better than the 4.4 percent monthly drop the area posted in January.

Even so, the early drops show the pain Tampa area sellers haven been feeling. Prices have dropped 23 percent over the past year, the index showed.

The nation as a whole also showed slowing monthly declines.

February sales prices fell 2.2 percent in the 20 cities tracked in the index. That's after a 2.8 percent decline in January. The cities had an average yearly drop of 18.6 percent.

At this point in the housing bust, any positive sign is encouraging, but it will take several more months of slowing price drops to confirm a turnaround, said David Blitzer, chairman of the index committee.

The index is considered a leading indicator of the health of the housing market and is closely monitored by housing experts.

The only other Florida city tracked, Miami, posted a 29.5 yearly percent drop, one of the largest among the 20 cities.

The pace of monthly declines slowed there, too, though. Prices in the Miami metro dropped 3 percent in February from January, compared to 3.6 percent from January to February.

Annual price changes are still what experts mainly use to gauge the health of the market.

The three cities with the largest yearly drops were Phoenix, down 35.2 percent; Las Vegas, down 31.7 percent; and San Francisco, down 31 percent.

Dallas, Denver and Boston faired best, with drops of 4.5, 5.7 and 7.2, respectively.

The index does not include the actual prices. But recent figures from the Florida Association of Realtors showed the median sales price of homes in the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater area was $135,800 in March. That's down 24 percent from $178,300 in March 2008.