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Home prices showed slower drop in Feb.

February data released yesterday showed local prices down less than 1 percent from the previous month, the smallest such decline since 2007. Prices were off 22.9 percent from a year earlier, compared with a record 26.7 percent drop recorded last October.

An index of 20 major cities showed prices were down 18.6 percent from a year earlier, the first time since January 2007 it didn't show a record decline.

But market watchers caution against breaking out the champagne and celebrating an impending rise in prices.

“No way on God's green earth,” said Louis Galuppo, a real estate attorney and director of residential real estate at the Burnham-Moores Center for Real Estate at the University of San Diego. “There's a difference between pricing starting to go up and the market starting to find stability.” (Full Story)