Lender Processing Services (LPS) said Monday its home price index fell 3.8% year-over-year in August, continuing a downward price trend that began after the market’s peak in June 2006. The company’s home price index tracks monthly prices in more than 13,500 ZIP codes. The LPS index tracks prices on a month-by-month basis. In August sales transactions data, we saw the national average home price decline 0.9%, following a decline of 0.4% in July. “This ended a series of increases during the spring of this year; a pattern that has occurred each year since 2009. In addition, the early, partial data for September sales indicates a likely further decline of approximately 1.1% to come,” said Kyle Lundstedt, managing director for LPS Applied Analytics. “As of the end of August, the national average home price was $205,000. This is down 3.8% from August last year, and down 0.4% from January 1, 2011.” Since June 2006, the national home price index declined 28.3%. By August, the total value of the U.S. housing inventory covered by HPI stood at $7.65 trillion, down from $10.6 trillion in June 2006. Prices in the period stretching from July 31, 2007 to December 2009 fell $56,000 from $282,000 at the market’s peak, LPS reported. Write to Kerri Panchuk.