Home prices up in two markets

The federal government recently announced that U.S. house prices fell in the third quarter, but two areas of the Gulf Coast bucked the trend.

The Naples and Tampa areas showed a little bit of growth in the government's home-price index in the third quarter, according to data from the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

The increases in the index weren't big, but they might indicate that at least home prices aren't falling further in these areas. Even other hard-hit areas such as Fort Myers and Sarasota saw smaller declines in home prices in the third quarter than they had in the past.

The only exception was Punta Gorda, which continued to see another significant price drop in the third quarter.

To be sure, there's plenty of ground to make up. Five years of price declines have done their damage, most dramatically in the Fort Myers area with a 46% fall over that period.

But long-term values have held up. For example, since the first quarter of 1991, homes in the Tampa area have appreciated 92%.