Home prices drop 0.5 pct. from February to March

NEW YORK (AP) - Home prices fell in March from the previous month, signaling that temporary tax credits for buyers weren't enough to buoy the housing market.

The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller 20-city home price index released Tuesday posted a 0.5 percent drop from February.

Prices in 13 of the 20 cities tracked by the index fell month over month. Only six metro areas recorded price gains. One, Boston, came in flat.

The figures point to a weakening housing market despite historically low mortgage rates and now-expired tax credits. Nationally, prices have climbed nearly 3 percent from their April 2009 bottom. But they remain nearly 31 percent below their July 2006 peak.

In the first quarter of 2010, U.S. home prices fell 3.2 percent compared with the fourth quarter.