Somehow it's scant comfort that Minneapolis, where home prices had resisted the worst of the downturn-itis, showed a steeper one-month home value decline that did Tampa.

Another city catches the Florida/Nevada/California disease. Misery loves company but this is ridiculous. According to the S&P/Case-Shiller home price index, The Tampa Bay area home prices kerplunked 4.4 percent from December to January. Minneapolis' drop was 4.7 percent.

Home values in Pinellas, Pasco, Hillsborough and Hernando counties have fallen 37.3 percent since the July 2006 peak, Case-Shiller said. The year-to-year drop was 23.3 percent. In January, homes in the region were worth what they were in February 2004.

The usual housing market basket cases led the list ofprice losers: Phoenix (-35 percent), Las Vegas (-32.5 percent ), San Francisco (-32.4 percent), Miami (-29.4 percent), Los Angeles (-25.8 percent) and San Diego (-24.9 percent). 

But it was Minneapolis' 20.4 percent decline that stood out. A standout on the list of most-liveable cities, this non-Rust-Belt burg should be doing better. We're in for a slow national housing recovery.