By Rex Nutting
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- After rising for three months, U.S. home prices fell 0.3% in August compared with the month before, the Federal Housing Finance Agency reported Thursday. Prices were down 3.6% in the past year, and were down 10.7% from the peak. Prices rose in four of nine regions, fell in four and were flat in the other. The biggest gains came in the Pacific region (up 1.2%) and Mountain region(up 0.8%), where the housing bubble was the most intense. The largest declines in August were in the South Atlantic (down 1.6%) and New England (down 1.1%).
