Bay area home prices down 18.5 percent, index shows

The West isn't the best when it comes to home prices. Tampa Bay area homes lost 18.5 percent of their value the past year, according to September's S&P Case-Shiller home price index. But that decline was dwarfed by the price plunges in places like Phoenix and Las Vegas, where homes lost close to a third of their value. The only other Florida city on the index, Miami, saw home prices nosedive 28.4 percent. Detroit, hard-hit by the failing auto industry, was the North's worst-hit area. According to the index, which tracks repeat sales of individual homes, Tampa area housing prices have backpedaled to what they were in November 2004. Overall, prices now stand 28 percent below the peak in July 2006.