Home price falling here, but more elsewhere

Miami, Las Vegas, Phoenix, San Diego, Los Angeles and Detroit: They all had worse home-price declines than Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater. Prices fell 15 percent in the Tampa Bay area from January 2007 to January 2008, according to the latest S&P Case-Shiller Index released Tuesday. Miami and Vegas tied for the worst price drop at 19.3 percent. In the 20 metro areas monitored by Case-Shiller, 16 reported record-high price declines. Only Charlotte, N.C., where home values rose 1.3 percent, avoided negative territory. According to Case-Shiller's counting methods, Tampa area prices are back to what they were in the spring of 2005. That conflicts a bit with Realtor statistics that show sales prices already returning to 2003-2004 levels.