San Diego's home prices fell 0.9 percent between October and November, according to the Standard & Poor's Case-Shiller Home Price Indices released Tuesday.

The drop between November 2010 and the same month in 2011 was 5.4 percent, S&P reported. Only six of the 20 markets studied fared worse than San Diego on an annual basis, according to S&P.

The Case-Shiller Index took the average cost of a house in each market in January 2000, assigned it a value of 100, and tracked the subsequent rise and fall.

San Diego's index value in November was 151.45, meaning an appreciation over about 11 years of more than 51 percent. The increase is the fourth highest, behind Washington, D.C., New York and Los Angeles.

The national composite of 20 cities in November was 138.49.

"Despite continued low interest rates and better real GDP growth in the fourth quarter, home prices continue to fall," said David Blitzer, chairman of the S&P Index Committee. "Weakness was seen as 19 of 20 cities saw average home prices decline in November over October."

Phoenix was the only market to post a gain in November, at 0.6 percent. Only Detroit, at 3.8 percent, and the nation's capital, at 0.5 percent, showed annual gains.

-City News Service