Home prices dipped in April from March, though the pace of decline moderated at the start of the spring buying season, according to a survey released today, Reuters reported.

Even so, economists cautioned that house prices will likely continue to crawl along at low levels and could have further to fall, as the battered housing market works through an excess amount of houses for sale, ongoing foreclosures, tight credit and weak demand.

The S&P/Case-Shiller composite index of single-family home prices in 20 metropolitan areas dipped 0.1 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis. A Reuters poll of economists had forecast a decline of 0.2 percent.

On a non-seasonally adjusted basis, however, the index rose 0.7 percent, its first advance in eight months, the report said.

“The seasonally adjusted numbers show that much of the improvement reflects the beginning of the spring-summer home buying season,” David Blitzer, chairman of the index committee at Standard & Poor’s, said in a statement. “It is much too early to tell if this is a turning point or simply due to some warmer weather.”

The 20-city composite index edged up to 138.84 from 138.16 in March, which had marked a new crisis-era low.

U.S. home prices were supported last spring by a tax credit, but the housing market has struggled since the credit expired. Though housing makes up a fraction of gross domestic product, most economists say the economy will be hard-pressed to make a sustainable recovery without an improvement in housing, Reuters said.