Falling home prices is not good news.  The good news is that most markets have less chance of prices declining in the next two years according to PMI Mortgage Insurance Company.  You may remember the earlier post here that identified PMI as a good place to get a broad view of what the market is doing.

According to an article in Inman News, PMI’s analysis indicates that the risk of declining home prices fell during the 1st quarter in 326 of the metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) that PMI tracks.  A total of 381 MSAs are tracked, so that translates into improvement in 86% of those areas.

As you might expect, price declines are more likely to happen in those areas where prices increased the most when the market was hot.  PMI estimates that there is a 40+% chance that prices will fall in 16 of the largest 50 MSAs.  You can review the chart and see that those areas are mostly in Foreida and California.  I’m surprised that Detroit isn’t on the list.

But, the good news for Detroit is that Michigan was one of the states, along with Ohio and Indiana, where new foreclosure rates actually declined.

If you want more information, visit the Inman article or follow the links in the earlier post on PMI.