TAMPA - The rate at which Tampa-area home prices are falling slowed for the fourth consecutive month, a report released Tuesday said.

It's a sign home prices may be getting closer to a bottom, but the report cautioned against assuming the market has stabilized. Experts have been warning that sales prices need to keep falling to work off excess inventory.

Prices fell 19.4 percent in July compared with the same month a year ago, according to the Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller home price index. In June, prices fell 20.1 percent, almost identical to the 20.2 percent decline in May and 20.4 percent drop in April.

The report showed no price change from June to July in the Tampa area.

Still, there are no signs prices will soon rise again, said David Blitzer, chairman of the index committee. It was the fourth consecutive month that none of the 20 cities tracked in the index showed positive gains. "While some cities did show some marginal improvement over last month's data, there is still very little evidence of any particular region experiencing an absolute turnaround," Blitzer said.

Las Vegas remained the weakest market, with an annual decline of 29.9 percent, followed by Phoenix and Miami, at 29.3 percent and 28.2 percent, respectively. Tampa, along with Atlanta, Dallas and Minneapolis, showed monthly improvements but were "too close to their recent lows to determine if the markets have stabilized," the report said.

Nationally, the index fell a record 16.3 percent in July from the year-ago month, the largest drop since its inception in 2000.

Reporter Shannon Behnken can be reached at               (813) 259-7804        or sbehnken@tampatrib.com.