National home prices to dip 1% in 2012, rebound in 2013

The double-dip in home prices that began two years ago continued through the third quarter of 2011, according to the latest Fiserv Case-Shiller Indices. However, there are signs of a recovery for 2013.

The gauges project average home prices in the United States will drop another 1 percent in 2012, and that increased home sales and improved economic conditions should contribute to a 3.8 percent increase in 2013, Housing Wire reported.

Nationally, the indices show home prices fell in 337 of the 380 metro areas tracked in the third quarter from the prior quarter and year-earlier period. The average price of a U.S. home fell to a new post-bubble low, declining 3.9 percent from a year ago. Average home prices are now 33 percent below the 2006 peak, with broad weakness across the U.S.
David Stiff, chief economist at Fiserv, pointed to encouraging trends in the U.S. housing market.

“While prices continued to fall in most markets, sales activity picked up at the end of 2011, setting the foundation for price stabilization in 2012,” Stiff said. “We stand by our projection that average U.S. home prices will move sideways in 2012. But we do anticipate that increasing sales activity will begin to drive small increases in prices in as many as half of U.S. metro areas.”