Homes Prices Fall 7.7 Percent

The housing market's swan dive continued unabated in the first quarter as the National Association of Realtors' most recent quarterly survey showed another decline in home prices.

Overall, the survey found that the median price of an existing single-family home fell nearly 8 percent in the first quarter, to $196,300 from $212,600 a year earlier.

Here's a regional breakdown:

Northeast: up 3.2 percent, to $280,000.
South: down 7.5 percent, to $164,200.
Midwest: down 7.9 percent, to $142,700.
West: down 12.3 percent, to $296,300.

Still there were some bright spots in the survey, with certain individual markets posting firmer prices:

In the first quarter, the largest single-family home price increase was the Binghamton, N.Y., area, where the median price of $109,700 rose 11.8 percent from a year ago. Next was Peoria, Ill., at $119,000, up 10.4 percent from the first quarter of 2007, followed by the Spartanburg, S.C., area, where the first-quarter median price increased 10.1 percent to $130,300.