Housing Prices Will Continue to Fall: Report

(Newsroom America) -- Home prices are likely to experience a triple dip, according to a new analysis of the market.

Financial analytics firm Fiserv said home prices should fall another 3.6 percent by next June, pushing them 35 percent below the peak price period during 2006, CNN/Money reported.

David Stiff, Fiserv's chief economist, said several factors will contribute to the triple dip, including sustained high unemployment and increased foreclosure activity.

The first valley in home prices came in 2009, when they fell an average of 31 percent in value from the peak. The second dip was reached last winter, when prices fell an average of 33 percent before staging a small, artificial rally as banks slowed foreclosure proceedings on news that properties were not being fully vetted by loan servicing agencies.

Once that scandal was resolved, foreclosures picked up again, as noted by RealtyTrac, which reported the first quarterly increase in filings in three quarters, the report said.

Home markets in parts of California, Florida and Nevada have been hit the hardest, but different regions of the same states have experienced growth.

The home market should begin a comeback by 2012, analysts said, but it will likely be modest.

© 2011 Newsroom America.

Contact Jon E. Dougherty

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