Home prices in 2009 rose 5.2 percent, according to latest housing market update from Altos Research LLC and “Real IQ”:http://www.realiq.com.

The two California-based data provider’s numbers are based on a 10-city composite index, which shows that prices effectively bottomed out in January 2009 at $470,017, climbed throughout the first half of the year to $509,030 in July before returning to a gradual downward trend and ended at $494,426 in December.

The researchers expect prices to continue showing modest declines throughout the seasonally weak winter months of 2010. During the month of December the index was down by 1.0 percent.

The Real-Time Housing Market Update from Altos and Real IQ reveals that real estate listing prices fell in 25 of 26 markets during December, with Miami being the only city where asking prices increased, up 1.0 percent for the month.

The largest monthly drop in the price of properties listed occurred in San Diego with prices falling 4.3 percent, followed closely by Salt Lake City which showed a 3.5 percent decline. San Diego also experienced the steepest quarterly drop in asking prices – down 7.3 percent.

The rate of decline has slowed in Las Vegas but that market continues to show the largest decline during the downturn. In November 2007, the median asking price was $342,140 but it fell to just $166,338 in December 2009.

The inventory of listed properties fell in 24 of 26 markets tracked in December, according to the report. Inventory declines were largest in Boston and the California markets of Los Angeles, San Francisco, and San Jose. The widespread drop-off in listed properties should help moderate near-term price declines, the report said.

Based on the researchers’ analysis, all markets except San Francisco had a median days-on-market of 100 or more in December. By far, the market with the slowest rate of inventory turn-over was Miami with a median of 247 days-on-market, or more than eight months.