Home prices declined in February

A key measure of home prices in the nation’s biggest cities fell in February, indicating that the housing market remained weak at the start of the year.

The Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller index of 20 American cities dropped 0.8% from January to February, and 3.5% from February 2011. Sixteen cities tracked by the index posted declines. Nine cities saw average home prices hit new lows.

“Broadly-speaking, home prices continued to decline in the early months of the year,” said David M. Blitzer, chairman of the index committee at S&P Indices.

Los Angeles fell 0.8% from the prior month, while San Francisco was down 0.7%. San Diego was slightly positive, up 0.2% from January.

The drop in the index continues a slide that began last year as sales weakened and the jobs picture remained bleak.

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