Home prices, which have fallen nearly 6% over the past four quarters (ending June 30), could fall another 3.6% by the second quarter of next year, according to analysts at Fiserv, which owns and generates the Case/Shiller house price indexes.
Fiserv chief economist David Stiff projects values will reach bottom next year and rise 2.4% by the end of the second quarter of 2013.
"But we should not expect a rapid rebound in home prices,” he said. “Very large inventories of foreclosed properties must be liquidated and absorbed before a healthy functioning housing market is restored.”
From the second quarter of 2012 to the following year, Stiff projects values will rise in 372 metropolitan areas tracked by the Brookfield, Wisc., company with only 12 markets experiencing declines.
In contrast, home prices fell in 340 of 384 metropolitan areas from the second quarter of 2010 to 2Q of 2011.
Those projections "illustrate why the housing market is poised to stabilize next year," Stiff said.
