Potential Annual Drop in Home Prices Nationally

by John O'Leary

The following article highlights some of the pressures affecting housing prices nationally including sub-prime lending and tightening credit standards.

clipped from money.cnn.com Real estate group sees 0.7% decline in 2007, first annual drop since it began keeping track. By Chris Isidore, CNNMoney.com senior writer NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The National Association of Realtors said Wednesday it expects its measure of home prices to fall this year for the first time since the group began keeping track nearly 40 years ago. In its latest monthly forecast, the real estate group said it expects a 0.7 percent decline in the median price of an existing home sold in 2007. A month ago it had been projecting a 1.2 percent increase. Half of all homes sell for more than the median and half for less. The subprime mortgage mess led the group to cut its sales forecast as well, by 100,000 to 6.34 million homes, a pace that would be about 2 percent below the 6.48 million existing homes sold in 2006. The group cited problems some buyers may have getting financing.