Home prices slumped 6.1% during the past year as of October, as measured by the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price index released today by Standard & Poor's.

The decline was the 10th consecutive month of negative annual returns for the index that tracks the prices of existing single-family homes in 20 major U.S. markets, and the 23rd consecutive month of decelerating returns.

The composite of the index's 10 original metro areas posted a record low annual decline of 6.7%. "Not only did the 10-city composite post a record low in its annual growth rate, but 11 of the 20 metro areas did the same," says Robert J. Shiller, Chief Economist at MacroMarkets LLC. "If you look at the monthly figures, every MSA went down in both October and September."

Miami was the worst performing market with a double-digit annual decline of 12.4%, followed by Tampa (-11.8%), Detroit (-11.2%) and San Diego (- 11.1%}. Only Charlotte, Portland and Seattle registered positive annual growth rates.