Power Breakfast: Housing market stabilizing, College Hall of Fame, World Congress Center, Home Depot, Toyota

Stability appears to be returning to our housing market, although it’s still hurting.

AJC reporter Michelle Shaw writes that Atlanta’s average price in December fell nearly 1 percent over November, according to Standard & Poor’s Case-Shiller Index. But that slight decrease shouldn’t be seen as a negative, said Cameron Findlay, chief economist for LendingTree.com.

“You want to see that,” he said. “You don’t want to see huge spikes in value changes, which we are seeing in other places.”

Findlay said Atlanta’s trend is “nice and even” and its continuous improvement will be attractive to investors and consumers.

Another good sign — the year-over-year price difference shrunk to 4 percent in December, Shaw writes.

Since June, the year-over-year gap has steadily declined. In June, prices were 14 percent lower than a year earlier. By August that number was 11 percent, and by November, 6 percent, Shaw reports.

“It doesn’t mean all is well, but that the precipitous declines are likely behind us,” said Adam York, an ecomonist for Wells Fargo Securities.

Also in the AJC:

• Controversy builds over health insurance hikes
• Price tag jumps for College Football Hall of Fame
• Homes turned into dumps
• Poe named new head of Georgia World Congress Center
• Ryla to hire 1,400 temp workers for census
• Home Depot improves profit, outlook
• HD Supply surprised by Home Depot move

In other media:

• Toyota chief apologizes for recall, accidents
• Three Google execs convicted of privacy violations
• Nationwide strike paralyzes Greece
• Facebook looks to capitalize on Arab world growth
• On eve of health meeting, big questions linger