Altos Research’s listing price index declined 1% in December and 1.4% during Q409, but for the year, the 10-city composite price index was up 5.2%, the company said, adding it projects asking prices to continue to decline during the winter 2010 months. The average listing price decreased to $494,426 from $499,267 from November to December. The index took a bigger monthly drop in December than it did in November, a result of the season decline in sales activity, Altos Research said. Miami was the only market of the 26 that Altos Research measures that experienced a gain in listing prices. San Diego and Salt Lake City experienced the greatest listing price declines, down 4.3% and 3.5% respectively. Inventories also declined in 24 of 26 markets, the largest drops in Boston and the California markets of Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Jose. New York (2.1%), and Phoenix (0.7%) experienced the only increases for the markets covered. The 10-city composite experienced a 5.1% decrease in listing inventory. All markets except San Francisco (99 days) had a median days on market of 100 or more days in December. Miami had the slowest turnover with a median of 247 days, more than eight months. The days on market for the 10-city composite was up 8% to 166 days. The Altos Research study includes existing single-family homes and does not measure condos, town homes or new construction. Each market measured uses results from Census Bureau Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSA). Write to Austin Kilgore.