Tampa and Miami Florida, two very nice warm places to live, again led the nation,

in home price declines in October, according to a National Home Price Index, just released. The two Florida metro areas posted the largest yearlong decreases in home prices in October among 20 cities tracked by the index. Check listings right now.

Prices dropped by about 12 percent and 13 percent, respectively, compared with the same month last year, according to the Ntional index. Other large American cities posting double digit declines were Detroit, San Diego and Phoenix and Las Vegas.

This marks the 10th consecutive month that the index has shown prices falling in theNorth Tampa, and Tampa Florida metro area. The index very accurately tracks individual homes through repeat sales and takes a weighted average of the sales price differences for those homes. Some of the people who did not manage their home and increased equity well may have their homes listed on a foreclosure site such as ForeclosureGetter.com

Some very good and smart economists, who also own homes of their own, think the index more accurately reflects price trends than the median prices reported by the national and state associations of Home Sellers. The index does not include actual home prices, but the Florida Association of Home Sellers data show the median sales price of homes in the Tampa along with Saint Petersburg and Clearwater areas was $200K in October, down 7 percent from the previous year. Another state with some ugly foreclosure numbers but maybe not a fall in prices is Wisconsin

Still, home prices in Tampa are over 100 percent higher now than in January 2000, which means many, many, many home owners, if it doesn't become a foreclosure, still way ahead of the game if terms of equity and financial health.