TAMPA - Bay area home prices edged up for two consecutive months, a sign that sales prices may be starting to stabilize, according to a report released Tuesday by Denver-based Integrated Asset Services.

May's sales prices increased 1.3 percent in Hillsborough County, 7.4 percent in Pasco County, 1.1 percent in Pinellas County and 2.6 percent in Polk County, according to the index, which tracks home valuations for banks, investors and hedge funds. That comes after modest gains in April.

The company, however, cautioned against reading too much into the data.

"Two months' worth of positive data hardly signals a turn in the national housing market," said Dave McCarthy, president and chief executive of Integrated Asset Services. "But we have to be encouraged by what we're seeing in several important counties and neighborhoods."

The index tracks data from 15,000 neighborhoods and shows changes in 360 counties, nine census divisions, four regions and the nation overall.

Home prices are still declining when compared with the same month last year, which is what economists generally watch to gauge the health of the housing market. On an annual basis, prices dropped 11.8 percent in Hillsborough, 31.4 percent in Pasco, 7.9 percent in Pinellas and 15.8 percent in Polk.

The index, which does not provide actual sales prices, is generally in line with data from other groups.

Sales prices fell 0.7 percent from March to April in the Tampa Bay metro area, compared with 2.7 percent from February to March, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller national home price index. Prices fell 21 percent in April compared with the same month a year ago, according to that index.

Reporter Shannon Behnken can be reached at (813) 259-7804.