TAMPA - Home values show signs of stabilizing, but nearly half of Tampa area homeowners owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth.

Nearly 48 percent of homeowners in the Tampa metro area were upside down on their home loans during the third quarter, according to a report released Monday from Zillow.com.

That's slightly better than the 49 percent reported during the second quarter.

The nation fared much better.

The number of homeowners with negative equity fell to 21 percent in the third quarter. That's down from 23 percent in the second quarter.

"The decline in the percentage of homeowners with negative equity is a positive sign, and is directly attributable to the stabilization of home values from the second quarter to the third," said Zillow chief economist Stan Humphries.

Values continued to fall across the nation, however. Values fell 6.9 percent in the third quarter, marking the 11th consecutive quarter of decline.

The Zillow Home Value Index hit $194,000, but the rate of decline shrank for the third consecutive quarter.

The short-term outlook was better.

Values fell 0.4 percent from the second to third quarters.

Locally, the Tampa metro area had an index value of $126,000, for a yearly drop of 16.6 percent. Values fell 2.2 percent from the second quarter, but just 0.7 percent from the August to September.

Zillow's index looks at the value of all homes in 156 metro areas.

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