While not the biggest drop in the Puget Sound region, Pierce County February home prices sunk to an attention-grabbing degree, down 7.8 percent from the same month in 2007, according to the Northwest Multiple Listing Service. Recent year-over-year decreases in the low single digits seemed to support the take that the market is merely in the midst of a moderate correction and will be on its way back any day now. But declines nearing 10 percent could point to a different kind of market shift.

Here's where price increases/decreases ended up around the region, according to the MLS:
King: +.45%
Thurston: +4%
Kitsap: -11.2%
Snohomish: -1.4%
Pierce: -7.8%

So what do you think? Is the February price drop a winter-time anomaly? Or will we continue to see prices move downward to this larger degree?

Take a look at the MLS press release accompanying yesterday's numbers and you'll find predictions of a regional rebound. Three paragraphs into the two-page release J. Lennox Scott, CEO of John L. Scott, is quoted talking up the big activity he's already seeing in March. Hey, what about February?

Look for a breakdown tomorrow of areas and prices within Pierce County.