Home prices have plummeted 40 to 60 percent from their recent peaks in some California and Florida markets, where the big bubbles of the last housing boom have popped with haste and brutal force.

Although home purchase transactions are generally up in all geographic markets, it’s these areas with the steepest price declines where buying activity is most pronounced, according to the latest market report from Integrated Asset Services, LLC (IAS).

Dave McCarthy, president and CEO of IAS, a default management and residential collateral valuations company headquartered in Denver, Colorado, says the data clearly indicates that “there is some bargain hunting going on.”

Frugal buyers may want to seal the deal sooner than later, though. Based on the company’s IAS360 House Price Index, home prices in some of those low-priced California and Florida markets jumped considerably from August to September.

In Fresno, California, where prices have plunged 42.5 percent since 2006, they rose 5 percent in September compared to the month prior. San Bernardino, California saw its average home prices go up 4 percent in September, and in San Joaquin, California prices gained 3.9 percent. Property values in these two metro areas have dropped 60 percent from 2006 peaks.

In Hernando, Florida home prices have fallen 46 percent from peak levels, but between August and September, prices rose 2.6 percent. In Lee, Florida, where home values are down a staggering 69.5 percent compared to 2006 peaks, they added back 1.2 percent in September.

According to IAS, the gains in these previously hard-hit counties largely offset the noticeably downward trend for many other regions around the country. Overall, national home prices fell 0.6 percent in September, IAS said in its monthly study.

But compared to the 3.1 percent nationwide decline for the same period last year, IAS said September’s modest drop indicates the typical seasonal downturn has been somewhat delayed.