91ÊÓƵ

Portland home prices are still dropping.

New shows the Portland home price index fell 0.9 percent from the end of July to the end of August. Out of the 20 largest metropolitan statistical areas, only Phoenix saw a larger month-over-month drop.

Since August of 2009, Portland had the fifth largest drop in the index, falling 2.3 percent. Tampa, Fla., Seattle, Las Vegas, Charlotte, N.C., and Chicago are the only cities to have larger drops. Conversely, San Francisco, San Diego and Los Angeles had the largest home price gains, increasing 7.8 percent, 6.9 percent and 5.4 percent respectively.

The index rose on average for the 20 largest cities, increasing 1.7 percent over the past year, but the index fell 0.2 percent from the end of July. Seventeen of the 20 cities saw a weakening in year-over-year figures through August compared to July.

“A disappointing report,” said David M. Blitzer, Chairman of the Index Committee at Standard & Poor’s, in a statement released by the company. “Over the last four months both the 10 and 20 city composites show slowing growth, after sustaining consistent gains since their April 2009 troughs.”