Housing experts are predicting a nationwide decline in home prices, according to CNN Money, as weak employment, tight lending and the robo-signing fiasco hamper hopes for a comeback. Analytics firm Fiserv had been optimistic regarding market stabilization earlier this year, predicting in February a 4 percent gain by the end of 2011. Now, the company has reversed its sentiment, saying it foresees a 7.1 percent drop by mid-2011. Mark Zandi, chief economist with Moody’s Analytics, said he expects home prices across the country to be down another 8 percent by this time next year. If Zandi’s prediction comes to fruition, the total peak-to-trough decline would hit 34 percent. [CNN Money]

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From the November issue: While prices and sales activity have picked up in New York in the last couple of months, a number of analysts are predicting a second round to the downturn here, with prices likely to fall. Estimates range from a drop of a few percentage points to up to 17 percent. Barry Ritholtz, the New York-based CEO and director of equity research at Fusion IQ, an online quantitative research firm, noted that “there’s still some downside to prices” in New York. “The good news is, the worst of the bloodbath is probably behind us in terms of falling prices,” he said. “The bad news is, unemployment continues to tick up and foreclosures continue to ramp up. I do not think New York is at a bottom quite yet.” Financial analysis firm Fiserv predicted last month that the New York City metro area will underperform the nation as a whole over the next two years, with prices falling another 17.4 percent by June 2011.