TAMPA - Tampa Bay home prices continued to fall, and the pace of home sales growth slowed in April, more signs that the housing recovery will be slow.

There were 2,326 existing homes sold during the month in the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater metro area. That's an 11 percent increase from the same month a year ago, according to the Florida Association of Realtors.

The median sales price - in which half the homes sold for more and half for less - was $135,200. Prices are down 23 percent from $176,200 in April 2008.

Statewide, Florida's home sales rose 18 percent in April. It was the eighth-consecutive month that yearlong sales activity increased.

Florida's median sales price for existing homes last month was $138,500. That's a 31 percent decrease from a year ago, when it was $199,500.

On the national front, sales of previously occupied homes rose modestly from March to April as buyers who were brave enough to dive into the market took advantage of prices that were 15.4 percent below year-ago levels.

The National Association of Realtors said Wednesday that home sales rose 2.9 percent to an annual rate of 4.68 million in April, from a downwardly revised pace of 4.55 million in March.

"We still need a continuing and consistent rise in home sales to get the inventory down," said Lawrence Yun, the group's chief economist. Only then, economists say, will prices stabilize and eventually recover.

The results slightly beat economists' forecasts. Sales had been expected to rise to an annual pace of 4.66 million units, according to Thomson Reuters.

The median sales price plunged to $170,200, down from $201,300 in the same month last year. That was the second-largest price drop on record after January, when prices fell 17.5 percent.

Information from the Associated Press was used in this report. Reporter Shannon Behnken can be reached at (813) 259-7804.