US home prices were down 8.9% in Q309 compared to Q308, according to the Standard & Poor’s (S&P) Case-Shiller National Home Price Index, better than the year-over-year quarterly declines of 14.7% in Q209 and 19% in Q109. The S&P/Case-Shiller monthly 10-city and 20-city composites experienced year-over-year declines of 8.5% and 9.4%, respectively in September. That’s better than the 10-city and 20-city composite declines of 10.6% and 11.3% experienced in August and continues a trend of generally improved monthly declines throughout 2009. “We have seen broad improvement in home prices for most of the past six months,” said David Blitzer, Standard & Poor’s index committee chairman. “However, the gains in the most recent month are more modest than during the seasonally strong summer months.” Blitzer added fewer cities experienced month-over-month improvements in September than in August, but Cleveland was the only city in the 20 markets the index measures that didn’t experience an annual improvement. The 10-city and 20-city composites had less than double-digit declines for the first time in 21 months. San Francisco and Washington DC experienced six consecutive months of positive gains, followed by Chicago, Minneapolis and San Diego each experiencing five consecutive months of positive price gains. Las Vegas remains the most depressed market, where prices have declined for 37 straight months and experienced a peak-to-trough decline of 55.4%. Write to Austin Kilgore.