The latest Case-Shiller report shows that house prices across the country - and in the Twin Cities - have continued falling, but the declines are getting smaller. Still, prices are now at levels not seen since 2003.

Case-Shiller measures prices using a 10- and 20- city composite. Of both measures, eight cities: Atlanta, Chicago, Cleveland, Las Vegas, New York, Portland, Seattle and Tampa – fell to new lows. The 10-city composite was down 3.9 percent and the 20-city was down 3.8 percent compared to January 2011.

In the Twin Cities metro area prices were down 1.8 percent compared with 2011, but were down only .8 percent compared with the previous month. Using seasonally adjusted numbers prices in the Twin Cities were up 1.1 percent compared with the previous month.

The January index for the Twin Cities fell to 111.42, which means that prices are only 11.42 percent higher than they were in January 2000 when the index baseline was established. The January index is a three-month average of November, December and January.

More recent reports, including data from the Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors, shows that during February the median sale price of all homes that closed during the month was down 1.4 percent.