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Bay Area Home Prices Drop Nearly 20 Percent

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By SHANNON BEHNKEN

sbehnken@tampatrib.com

Published: December 31, 2008

TAMPA - Tampa Bay area home prices continued to fall in October, posting a 19.8 percent decline from a year ago, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller home-price index, released Tuesday.

The index, a closely watched indicator of the health of the nation's housing market, tracks 20 metro cities and showed prices dropped 18 percent from last year - a record decline.

"The bear market continues," said David Blitzer, chairman of the index committee. "Home prices are back to their March 2004 levels."

Prices in the Bay area fell even further than September's index, when prices dropped 18.5 percent.

The index has showed yearly declines since January 2007. It was the seventh consecutive month that none of the metros was able to muster a yearly or monthly gain in home prices. Fourteen of the metro areas saw record declines.

Phoenix and Las Vegas had the largest yearly drops, 33 percent and 32 percent, respectively. Miami, the only other Florida city tracked by the index, posted a 29 percent decline.

Dallas and Charlotte, N.C., fared the best in year-over-year returns, 3 percent and 4.4 percent drops, respectively. Still, those drops are larger than they were in September.

Reporter Shannon Behnken can be reached at (813) 259-7804.

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