From RealTrends.com: Fiserv, Inc. released an analysis of home price trends in more than 375 U. S. markets based on the Fiserv® Case-Shiller Indexes.
In the second quarter of 2010, U. S. single-family home prices rose an average of 3.6 percent over the year-ago quarter, driven by strong price increases in relatively high-priced markets, such as San Diego, Washington, D.C., and the San Francisco Bay Area.But despite the gain in the national average, prices actually fell in 70 percent of the 384 metro areas, compared to the 2009 second quarter. Many markets experienced double-digit drops, including Detroit; Boise, Idaho; Reno, Nev. and many smaller markets in Florida and Oregon.
Factors weighing on the housing market include chronic high unemployment, the expiration of the homebuyer tax credit and the large number of distressed properties that remain in markets such as Florida, Arizona and Nevada.
Other observations from the second quarter 2010 data include:
Much of the sustained activity in the first half of the year was due to the first-time homebuyer tax credit that expired in June. Since then, home sales activity has plummeted.
Fiserv and Moody’s Economy.com expect that home prices will drop over the next four quarters in nearly all metro markets before they start to stabilize at the end of 2011.
The Fiserv Case-Shiller Indexes forecast that average single-family home prices will fall another 7.1 percent over the next 12 months. Steep home price declines are expected to continue in markets that have been hurt most by the housing crisis. From the second quarter of 2010 through the second quarter of 2011, average home prices in Nevada, Arizona and Florida are projected to decline 12.4 percent, 11.5 percent and 9.4 percent, respectively. In addition, home prices are projected to decline 12.7 percent in the District of Columbia.