Panel: House Prices May Fall Another 15%

House prices may fall another 15% before they stabilize, and most of the drop will occur before the end of this year, according to the consensus view of economists on the American Bankers Association's economic advisory panel. "We are just about half way through the adjustment process in home prices," said Peter Hooper, chief economist at Deutsche Bank Securities and chairman of the ABA panel. He noted that the Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller house price index shows house prices have fallen nearly 15% from the peak. "We have another 15% to go," Mr. Hooper said. The bank economists say they expect house prices to continue to decline well into the first half of 2009, but that the most precipitous drop will be in the second half of this year. The ABA can be found on the Web at http://www.aba.com.