Home prices nationwide are set to bottom out by the end of summer, according to data released yesterday by Fiserv-Case Shiller. In the final quarter of 2011 prices in 70 markets, making up 18 percent of 384 metro areas, stabilized or increased slightly, and now national home prices are predicted to follow. [more]

Signals for the housing market are mixed, Nicolas Retsinas, director of the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University, told Bloomberg — an improvement over the situation six months ago, when all the signs for housing were negative. Federal and state tax credits are helping the market, but it’s still too soon to declare a housing recovery. Employment needs to stabilize before the housing market can recover, Retsinas said. Recovery is closer in markets that are not yet overbuilt, such as the Northeast. In other markets, such as the Southwest, recovery could be more than a year away. [more]