RBC Analyst Wetenhall: Home Prices May Fall by Another 10%

Thursday, 01 Sep 2011 07:56 AM
By Forrest Jones

Home prices may fall by another 10 percent this year due to the simple reason that there remains too much supply in the market, says RBC Capital Markets analyst Robert Wetenhall.

The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller home-price index showed Tuesday that prices increased in June from May in 19 of the 20 cities tracked by the index, the Associated Press reports

That doesn't mean the market has hit its bottom.

"We’re expecting home prices to decline another 5 percent to 10 percent year over year," Wetenhall tells CNBC, pointing out there are 7 million homes in foreclosure alone — and a lack of demand from consumers, many of whom are unemployed.

Others agree that it's way too soon to build condos and host champagne parties at groundbreaking ceremonies.

Home prices are still 32 percent below their peaks, and while all California cities as well as Dallas, Denver and Washington, D.C., bottomed in 2009, Las Vegas, Miami, Phoenix, Tampa and Detroit have set new lows this year, MarketWatch reports.

"These shifts suggest that we are back to regional housing markets, rather than a national housing market where everything rose and fell together," David Blitzer, chairman of the index committee at S&P Indices, tells MarketWatch.

Others say the market is still on course for further declines.

"This kick will wear off in the fall, when demand weakens and sellers have to give way on price, and prices will start dropping again," says Patrick Newport, U.S. economist at IHS Global Insight, MarketWatch adds.

http://www.moneynews.com/StreetTalk/hom ... /id/409410