INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — Vero Beach and Sebastian home prices declined 20 percent in October from the year-ago period, mortgage research firm First American CoreLogic said Monday. The number includes sales of distressed properties. Excluding those sales, the area’s home prices fell 13.89 percent from October 2008. That figure was -14.96 percent in September. However, the research company does expect the precipitous drop in home prices to slow dramatically over the next year, predicting just a -0.35 percent drop in October of 2010. That figure includes distressed sales.”We are continuing to see improvements in the year-over-year home price change as prices have remained relatively stable since April,” said Mark Fleming, chief economist for First American CoreLogic said of the overall housing market. “The additional government support for the housing market has stimulated demand and restricted supply in 2009. How these government supports are removed in 2010 and the moderation of pending inventory and negative equity will be critical to the continued stability of the housing market.”