Housing

Only one of the 45 economists surveyed in BusinessWeek’s annual economic outlook predicted a rise in home prices in 2009. Seven saw steady home prices in 2009, while the remaining 37 forecast declines ranging from 2.4 to 24.5 percent.

Moody’s Economy.com predicts housing prices will stabilize by the second half of this year, but it also forecasts the national Case-Shiller house price index will decline by another 12 percent from the third quarter of last year, for a total peak-to-trough decline of 30 percent. Overall, this means housing prices will have declined by double digits in nearly 62 percent of the nation’s 381 metro areas. In about 10 percent of metro areas, price declines will exceed 30 percent, Moody’s says.