The slide is house prices slowed for the fourth month in a row, an indication that the market may be stabilizing. Nonetheless, there was a record 15.4 percent plummet during the latest quarter from a year ago.
"While there is no national turnaround in residential real estate prices, it is possible that we are seeing some regions struggling to come back, which has resulted in some moderation in price declines at the national level," David M. Blitzer, chairman of the index committee at Standard & Poor, told CNBC.
Sales of pre-existing homes jumped 3.1 percent in July, reported the New York Times. The peril lurking beneath that number is the fact at least one-third of those sales were of homes that been foreclosed on or at a price that represented a loss for the seller.
"It's cold comfort to know that banks are succeeding on selling their houses at prices that are pretty breathtaking," said Robert Barbera, chief economist at the Investment Technology Group.
Last year only 10 percent of sales were under such conditions.
