While home prices countywide continued their year-over-year decline last month, three of the 17 areas tracked by the Northwest Multiple Listing Service stayed even or saw prices increase. Can you guess which ones?

Of note in the two that grew: They had more than or nearly as many homes sold as in the same month in 2007, so activity mirrors buyer willingness to pay for the homes. Where might these be, you ask?

Lakewood, with a year-over-year price jump of 10 percent, and Dupont, where the median home price increased 2.6 percent. (July’s Pierce County home price of $255,000 declined by 9.4 percent compared to July 2007.)

Areas with fewer than 10 homes sold are excluded from the price list, which means Roy and Anderson Island didn’t make the cut. (If your area's not part of the list, check out this earlier post explaining why you won't see the Key Peninsula, Orting and others on either stat roundup.) Tomorrow I’ll have the number of closed sales for each area and how those numbers compare to last year’s. Sales grew in only one area besides DuPont. Any guesses?