Integrated Asset Services' latest house price index (HPI) reported a 0.5% drop in national home prices for the month of July. The decline breaks consecutive months of price gains since February.

While Midwestern and mid-Atlantic residents experienced slight price gains, Mountain West and New England states experienced the worst home devaluations.

Drilling down to metropolitan statistical area, Las Vegas experienced a 4.8% drop for the month. Lady Luck has frowned upon Las Vegas since August 2006, with month over month consecutive drops; July represents its largest monthly plunge in that run.

Both Denver and San Francisco experienced 3.8% July declines. The San Francisco MSA had shown signs of life this year, experiencing a nearly 8% price increase overall from February through June. San Francisco County posted a 0.8% gain for July, but Alameda County home prices dropped 6.8%, followed by Contra Costa and Marin Counties, which lost 4.4% and 4.0%, respectively.

Chicago also experienced neighborhood price volatility, despite a low-profile 0.8% drop for the windy city. Western suburbs in Kane and Kendall Counties gained value in July, with Kane County up 5.3% for the month. However, Lake, McHenry and Will counties lost 5.6%, 1.7% and 4.7% for the month, respectively.

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