Where are home prices headed?

According to analysts, home prices may fall in the near-term and rise only in 2012. "We expect prices to drop for another year and then stabilize before starting to rise with incomes," says Standard & Poor's Chief Economist David Wyss. The S&P/Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index, which tracks the movement of home prices, will fall about 16% this year before stabilizing. Fiserv, a research firm, has forecasted the 2012 home prices in 50 largest metro areas across different states.
In some states such as Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan, home prices will see a rise by 2012. However, in states such as Florida, California, New Jersey, and New York, prices will fall until end 2012.

Elliot Eisenberg, a senior economist with the National Association of Home Builders says there's still pain to come in states where there's oversupply. "Prices will have to come down further and it will take a while to burn off the excess inventory that's floating around there," said Eisenberg. So what should home buyers do now? Is it a good time to buy? "To generalize, yeah, it is a good time to buy a house. I don't think there's any urgency because I think it'll still be a great time to buy a house a year from now," says economist Richard DeKaser of Woodley Park Research.