Oct 31, 2009 (Ocala Star-Banner - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX News Network) --

Declining home values will continue through 2009 before bottoming out by March 2010 and then show an increase in August, according to First American CoreLogic Inc.

The online company, which analyzes real estate trends, predicts that Ocala home values will show a 7.25 percent increase by August 2010, compared to the same month a year before. The company is predicting similar trends throughout the country. In the Ocala area, home prices, including distressed sales, fell by 17.11 percent in August 2009 compared to August 2008. That was a slightly smaller tumble compared to July's 2009 year-over-year house price index decline of 17.88 percent and June's year-over-year decline of 18.44 percent.

While the first-time home buyer tax credit has given a short-term boost to home sales, its end on Dec. 1, combined with projected increases in foreclosures, will put additional downward pressure on house prices this winter, the company said "We would expect the house price index to dip again as we move into the winter off-season and continue to bounce around the bottom of the market in anticipation of a sustained recovery," said Mark Fleming, chief economist for First American CoreLogic, in a press release.

"While the majority of house price declines appear to be behind us, there are still a number of economic and institutional factors that are working against a solid and sustainable turnaround in the housing sector," he stated.

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