Freddie: House Prices May Not Trough Till '10

Housing prices may not bottom out until 2010, if then, according to the deputy chief economist at Freddie Mac. Amy Crews Cutts says she expects prices to fall 11% on a national level, from peak to trough. So far, however, prices have dipped just 1% or so, meaning that "we've got a long way to go," the economist said at the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals' annual legislative conference in Washington. While some local markets may be doing better already, she stressed that prices nationally could be on a downward slope for 20-24 quarters from their peak in the third quarter of 2005 -- "or longer if the financial markets continue to falter," she told MortgageWire. "We're not even forecasting when prices go back to their '05 level," she added. "We're merely forecasting when the pain stops." However, LaVaughn Henry, director of economic analysis at PMI, Walnut Creek, Calif., said he is "starting to see some evidence" that house prices in some places aren't falling as fast as they have been. "It's not a reversal -- prices are still going down," Mr. Henry told the conference. "But things are not as bad as they were. It's not huge, but it's a change in the right direction." Freddie can be found online at http://www.freddiemac.com, and PMI can be found at http://www.pmigroup.com.