National home-price decline easing.

In late July, First American Core-Logic reported some modestly hopeful signs about the nation's housing markets. Home prices nationally for detached single-family homes fell by 9.2 percent in May compared with the same month last year. That was down from a drop of 9.7 percent in April and a marked improvement from the 11.9 percent national average price decline in January 2009. The group reported, "June preview data suggest further improvements in the rate of decline."

Single-family detached home prices peaked in July 2006, according to First American CoreLogic. Since then, prices have declined 20.1 percent on a cumulative basis. The data also suggest that attached residential properties (condos and townhomes) are seeing worse price declines than detached properties--the former seeing an annual price fall of 12 percent versus the 9.2 percent national average decline for detached homes.

The data come from First American CoreLogic and its LoanPerformance Home Price Index (HPI). A press release announcing the results stated, "Despite the improvement in the national trend, the geographic-breadth of price declines has not improved. Forty-one states experienced price declines and 16 states had double-digit declines in May--well above the number of states experiencing declines a year ago."

The HPI found that the metro area posting the steepest decline in home prices for the one-year period ending May 2009 was Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, California. That market saw prices drop by 29.72 percent. The second-biggest slide in prices occurred in Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall, Florida, where prices fell by 29.43 percent on an annual basis. Sitting in third place was Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Florida, where prices plummeted by 28.65 percent during the year ending May 2009.

In terms of performance by individual states, Nevada showed the worst price performance (down by 26.36 percent) and New York showed the best (up 3.14 percent) for the year ending in May. Twelve states posted positive price appreciation in the period, while 16 states saw double-digit price declines.