BLOOMINGTON - As a climber makes his way up a high mountain, it gets increasingly easier for him to fall down. So it is with the housing market.

The Bloomington-Normal real estate market has experienced a lot of prosperity in recent years; however, as industry experts say, it can't keep setting records year after year.

So the community found itself on a Top 5 "worst" list recently.

Bloomington is listed as the fifth-worst city in the nation for home appreciation in the February issue of Money magazine. The median home price from 2006 third quarter sales was $156,300, an 8.5 percent decrease from the 2005 third quarter price of $170,900.

Detroit had the slowest appreciation at negative 10.5 percent.

Compare that to the fastest appreciating city, Salem, Ore., whose median home price of $228,000 increased 24.7 percent from the same period the year before.

But homes in Bloomington-Normal did not decrease in value last year, nor could someone buy the same home from a year earlier at a cheaper price in 2006.

"On a whole, our market goes up 3, 4 percent a year, and it has forever," said Vic Armstrong, president and owner of Armstrong Construction. "You can't go out and buy the same house I built in (2005) with less money today."

A decrease in the median price of a home could be the result of problems in the job market, migration patterns or a correction from high sales or a peak in the past, said Walter Molony, senior public affairs associate with the National Association of Realtors.

But the median price in 2005 in Bloomington-Normal was the highest the national association has recorded since it began tracking this area in 2003, Molony said. It stood out among yearly medians of $141,000 in 2003, $147,800 in 2004 and $159,200 in 2005.

"You might have had an unusual number of upper number homes - million dollar homes - (sold) a year ago," Molony said. "That can skew it."

The average price of a home increased 1 percent in 2006, according to year-end statistics from the Bloomington-Normal Association of Realtors. Molony said that number might be a more accurate picture of the local market.

Twin City builders recognize the homes they build and sell can contribute to a price decrease.

Builders have built a lot of expensive homes in recent years, said Ed Neaves, a broker with Prudential Snyder and a builder and partner with Stelle Homes. Now, they're building less expensive new homes to meet a change in demand, so overall, the price will decrease, Neaves said.

"There's been more demand for less expensive new construction," Neaves said.

More people are also demanding homes with fewer square feet but more inside amenities, he said.

For an example, during the last few years, Neaves has built homes in Hawthorne and Eagle View in east Bloomington for about $400,000. He's now working on Harvest Pointe, a subdivision at Illinois 9 and Towanda Barnes Road in Bloomington, with homes in the $270,000 to $320,000 range.

"Based on my research, that's where the demand is," Neaves said.

But while new construction was down in Bloomington-Normal, Armstrong actually sold two more houses in 2006 than 2005, and he said he built "far more" in the higher price range in 2006.

He started developing homes in Savannah Green in north Normal in 2001 for $130,000 to $140,000. He sold about 25 of those homes in 2006 after selling about 80 in the development's early years when more lots were open.

In 2005, about half of the homes he sold were in Eagles Landing in Normal and cost from $230,000 to $250,000. Homes he built in Eagle View and Tipton Trails in east Bloomington in 2005 and 2006 cost $350,000 to $750,000.

The decrease in Bloomington-Normal's median home price comes from a mix of different houses and different buyers, Armstrong said.

Overall, the median price in the Twin Cities is extremely affordable, Molony said.

"If you look at Bloomington, first-time home buyers can afford to buy a single family home if they choose," Molony said.