Local homes retained more of their value in November than the national average, down 1.6 percent year-over-year in November compared to a 3.7 percent national slide, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller home price index.

The widely-watched index measures changes in the price of repeat sales in 20 metropolitan areas around the country. Boston’s year-over-year price slide of 1.6 percent, was good enough for sixth place nationally among the 20 major cities which make up the index.

Only two cities, Detroit and Washington D.C., showed positive growth compared to last year, with Detroit up 3.8 percent and Washington up 0.5 percent. Phoenix was the only urban area in the country to show positive growth month over month, with prices in the desert city ticking up 0.5 percent from October to November.

On a seasonally adjusted basis, which aims to take into account the slower selling season in the winter, three cities – Denver, Minneapolis and Phoenix – posted monthly increases.

"Despite continued low interest rates and better real GDP growth in the fourth quarter, home prices continue to fall. Weakness was seen as 19 of 20 cities saw average home prices decline in November over October," said David M. Blitzer, chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Indices. "The only positive for the month was Phoenix, one of the hardest hit in recent years. The trend is down and there are few, if any, signs in the numbers that a turning point is close at hand."

While prices have increased slightly overall from the worst of the crisis, the index is down about 33 percent from its boom-time peak in 2006, and average home prices across the United States are back to their mid-2003 levels.