CRYSTAL LAKE – Despite signs the real estate market is stabilizing, home prices continue to fall in McHenry County.

Even as the pace of foreclosures slowed and the number of houses on the market declined, values have dropped. The county’s median residential sale price in July was $150,000, down 17.4 percent, or $31,500, from the same month in 2010, according to market statistics prepared by Rob Schaid, broker and owner of RE/MAX Plaza in McHenry.

The housing slump keeps pressure on struggling homeowners who owe more than their home is worth, and even when the market begins to recover, it could take years for some owners to get back the value they’ve lost, experts said.