Are home prices headed for a triple-dip?
Maybe, given the latest grim tidings on the nation's battered housing market.
The Fiserv Case-Shiller Indexes are now projecting another 3.6 percent drop in home prices across the country through next June.
Ouch!
And the Bay State is not likely to escape the undertow, with various submarkets expected to see declines of anywhere from 2.8 to 4.5 percent, according to the Wisconsin-based housing market tracker.
So what's the triple-dip?
Well the double-dip in home prices took hold in the summer/fall of 2010, when home values beat a quick retreat after the end of the $8,000 home buyer tax credit.
Those declines leveled off this summer and fall. But instead of price stability, we may see another round of reductions up ahead this coming winter and spring, according to Fiserv Case-Shiller.
The western suburbs, from Cambridge out to Framingham, where the median price of a home is $405,000, may escape with the lightest damage, with a projected price drop of 2.4 percent through mid 2012, the lowest of any submarket in Massachusetts, according to Fiserv Case-Shiller.
Meanwhile, Boston is expected to see prices drop another 3.2 percent, from a current median of $332,000.
The biggest price cuts are are likely to come on the Cape, with a projected 4.2 percent fall from a median price of $310,000, and on the North Shore, with a drop of 4.5 percent from a median of $315,000.
Meanwhile, the Worcester area, at $215,000, is in for another 3.6 percent decline through next June, while Springfield, at $173,000, could see a 3.9 percent drop, according to Fiserv Case-Shiller.
Happy house hunting!
