Maryland had one of the biggest drops in home prices in the nation this year through March, according to a federal house price index released Wednesday.
Prices fell more than 10 percent when adjusted for seasonal changes, compared with the first three months of 2008, the Federal Housing Finance Agency said. The decline was the sixth steepest in the U.S., with only Nevada, Florida, California, Arizona and Washington, D.C., showing greater depreciation. Home prices fell the most in Nevada, by more than 31 percent.
Over the past year, seasonally adjusted prices fell 7.1 percent in the U.S., according to the index, which is calculated based on sales price information from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac-acquired conventional mortgages for single family homes.
Prices fell on a year-over-year basis in all but four states: Alaska, Oklahoma, North Dakota and South Dakota.
But compared with the fourth quarter, prices rose in 20 states in the first quarter. Prices fell just under 1 percent in Maryland compared with the fourth quarter.
A separate housing finance agency index, which includes prices from mortgages covering refinancings as well as purchases, showed more strength during the latest quarter than the purchase-only index, falling 3.3 percent over the same period a year earlier, the agency reported.
"Our latest data are consistent with growing evidence that housing market conditions may be stabilizing in some parts of the country," said James B. Lockhart, director of the housing finance agency.
The index was released a day after the Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller National Home Price Index showed home prices tumbled by 19.1 percent in the first quarter compared with the first quarter last year.
