Home prices: Most major metro areas show slowing declines

Home prices in the 20 largest U.S. metro areas are not yet making year-over-year gains, but they are showing a slowing rate of decline, according to the Standard & Poor's/Case Shiller home price index released moments ago.

Cleveland was the only metro area to not show an improvement in the annual rate of decline.

Average prices in the 20 largest areas fell 11.3 percent compared with this month last year, but most markets showed an increase from July to August. The decline beat estimates.

For instance, home prices in the Washington area rose 1.4 percent from July to August.

Prices are roughly back to where they were in the fall of 2003, the report said, before the bubble began.

Here's the list of the 20 largest metro areas and the home price change from July to August:

-- Atlanta: up 1 percent.
-- Boston: up 0.9 percent
-- Charlotte: down 0.4 percent
-- Chicago: up 1.7 percent
-- Cleveland: down 0.5 percent
-- Dallas: up 0.2 percent
-- Denver: up 1 percent
-- Detroit: up 1.9 percent (!)
-- Las Vegas: down 0.3 percent
-- L.A.: up 1.6 percent
-- Miami: up 1.1 percent
-- Minneapolis: up 3.2 percent
-- NYC: up 0.5 percent
-- Phoenix: up 1.6 percent
-- Portland: up 0.3 percent
-- San Diego: up 1.6 percent
-- San Francisco: up 2.8 percent
-- Seattle: up 0.1 percent
-- Tampa: up 0.4 percent
-- D.C.: up 1.4 percent

-- Frank Ahrens
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