San Diego County house prices declined sharply in August, dampening hopes that the region's real estate recession was nearing a close, according to a report released Tuesday.

Real estate prices in the county fell by 2.3 percent in one month and 25.8 percent from the same time a year ago, according to the New York-based Standard & Poor's Case-Shiller Home Price Index, one of the most closely watched indicators because it measures sales against the previous price of the same house.

After peaking in November 2005, San Diego County's housing prices have tumbled 32.8 percent.

Lower-priced houses have led the drop. From that peak, here is the movement of the county's three tiers:

- Houses priced less than $342,452 fell by 42 percent.

- Houses between $342,452 and $501,477 declined by 33 percent.

- Houses more than $501,477 dropped by 22 percent.

County house prices dropped most severely from October 2007 through April. But the last three data reports from May through July showed the price decline had slowed to about 1.5 percent per month in a possible sign that the price drops were nearing an end.

Tuesday's report showed that was not the case, Maureen Maitland, vice president of index analysis for Standard & Poor's, said Tuesday in a phone interview.

"On the annual basis, it is a record low" for depreciation, she said. "At this point there is nothing in the data that is saying there is a turnaround." At the same time, seasonality -- more houses sell in summer months -- might be cause for the greater depreciation in August versus July and June, Maitland said.

Therefore, while August's report showed that a recovery was not imminent, it indicated that the real estate recession only persisted; it did not accelerate, she said.

Also, San Diego County did not see as much depreciation as San Francisco, pushing the county out of the five biggest price drops in the nation. The median house price in North County is now $430,000, down 36 percent from a June 2007 peak of $667,000.

In order, Phoenix, Las Vegas, Miami, San Francisco and Los Angeles posted the biggest price declines from the same time a year ago, followed by San Diego County.

During the runup, the low-end tier significantly outperformed the high end. August marked the third straight month that the high-end tier appreciated more than the low end when compared to 2000 levels. It is the first time since February 2000 that the high end outperformed the low.

The overall market's decline of 25.8 percent for the year ending in August was the biggest drop on record since Standard & Poor's started the index in 1987. It was the 17th straight month that a new year-over-year record had been set.

The index's 10-city composite of the nation's largest metropolitan areas, which includes San Diego County, also posted a record decline of 17.7 percent off the level a year ago. It was the 11th straight month for a new record decline on the national composite.

Contact staff writer Zach Fox at (760) 740-5412 or zfox@nctimes.com. Read his blog, "On the Realside," at nctimes.com/blogs/minding_your_business.