Home price increases have slowed for months, and now there's a chance prices might actually decline, says CNBC real estate reporter Diana Olick.

"That will be the first time collectively, as a nation, we've seen prices drop since the low point or the trough of the housing crisis," Alex Villacorta, vice president of research and analytics at data firm Clear Capital, tells Olick.

He says that home prices rose only 1 percent in the third quarter from the second, compared with a 3 percent increase during the third quarter of 2013.

"This comes after what should have been the most active buying season in the housing market for the summer that just ended," Villacorta notes.

The S&P/Case-Shiller 20-City Composite Home Price Index hit its low in February 2012. It has increased 29 percent since then.

Meanwhile, real estate research firm CoreLogic reported that home prices rose 6.4 percent in the 12 months through August.

Excluding distressed sales, home prices nationally increased 5.9 percent in August 2014 from August 2013 and 0.3 percent month-over-month. Also excluding distressed sales, 49 states and the District of Columbia showed year-over-year home price appreciation in August, with Mississippi being the only state to experience a year-over-year decline (-1.7 percent).

"The pace of year-over-year appreciation continues to slow down, as real estate markets find more balance," says Mark Fleming, chief economist at CoreLogic.

"Home price appreciation reached a peak of almost 12 percent year-over-year in October 2013 and has since subsided."

To be sure, that's not necessarily a bad thing, Fleming adds. "Continued moderation of home price appreciation is a welcomed sign of more balanced real estate markets and less pressure on affordability for potential home buyers in the near future."

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