A U.S. 25-city home price index is stabilizing this year after plunging through most of 2008, and home prices in some cities actually rose in March, according to Radar Logic, a real estate data and analytics company.

The index of major metropolitan areas, which includes 25 of the 35 largest U.S. cities and is called the RPX 25-MSA Composite, ended 2008 down 21 percent from the beginning of the year, but in both February and March 2009 declined only .3 percent sequentially. The average monthly decline in 2008 was 2 percent.

In general, the housing market is getting better, or at least not getting worse at the same pace as before, said Radar Logic Chief Executive Michael Feder.

In 11 of the 25 cities tracked by the index, prices rose between February and March.

Boston posted the strongest month-over-month gains, with house prices per square foot rising 6 percent; prices in Denver rose 5.7 percent and in Milwaukee rose 5.6 percent.

Prices in Washington took the hardest fit, falling 7.5 percent between February and March. In Las Vegas, they fell 4.3 percent. Price drops in the other 12 cities all were less than 2 percent.