Bigger drop seen in home prices
From Times Wire Services
A trade group for home builders predicted that home price declines wouldn’t stop until early 2009.
David Seiders, chief economist for the National Assn. of Home Builders, said he agreed with what he called an emerging consensus about the housing market: that median U.S. housing prices will drop 10% to 15% from a peak in 2005.
Seiders projected that construction of new houses and apartments would plunge to 1.08 million units next year, down from a forecast of 1.35 million for 2007. He expects housing starts to rebound to 1.19 million in 2009.
