From the Atlanta Investor Wire:

Home prices continue to fall throughout the country, according to the May report of the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index.

In the 22nd straight month of declining home values, the 20-city index slipped 0.9 percent to a new record year-over-year low of 15.8 percent.

The 10-city index dropped 1.0 percent in May to a level 16.9 percent below last year. It also hit a new record low.

There has not been a month of price appreciation since August 2006.

Each of the 20 metro areas surveyed by the index posted annual declines. Nine hit record lows, and ten recorded double-digit drops in home prices.

Las Vegas and Miami continued to show the largest price drops in the nation, with prices falling 28.4 percent and 28.3 percent respectively. Phoenix, Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco also posted year-over-year declines in excess of twenty percent.

Atlanta was one of seven cities measured by Case-Shiller that showed some improvement from April, posting month-to-month appreciation of 0.6 percent. It is the first time Atlanta has seen a monthly price increase since last year.

Still, home prices in Atlanta slipped to 7.9 percent below last year’s values.

While the picture painted by the Case-Shiller index remains bleak, there are some positive signs that at least a bottom may be forming for housing prices. For the second month in a row, a number of cities showed very modest price appreciation. Additionally, the overall price declines appear to be slowing.

Certainly, this does not indicate rebound and recovery for the battered housing market, and it is most likely that prices will remain at low levels for some time before there is any significant appreciation. But we may have hit the point where things may not get much worse – which for today’s real estate investors is certainly an improvement.

Down nearly eight percent from last year ain’t too good, and it’s surely going to get worse before better,