Tampa home prices down 15%

Gulf Coast home prices were significantly lower in March 2011 than they where they were a year prior — in some cases, by nearly 15%, according to CoreLogic.

In Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, home prices were down 14.56% in March 2011 relative to the same month in the prior year. In North Port-Bradenton-Sarasota, prices are down 9.75%, and in Cape Coral-Fort Myers prices fell 4.79%.

March 2011 was the eighth month in a row in which home prices fell relative to the year before.

Nationwide, home prices are down 7.5% over the year, according to CoreLogic. The main culprits pushing prices down are short sales and real estate owned (REO) transactions; excluding those deals, prices are down just 1%, CoreLogic says.