Merry Christmas, Your House is Worth Less Than It Used to Be

From Forbes comes this stocking stuffer:

10 worst real-estate markets for 2009

The housing market hasn't bottomed out yet. For the third quarter, the closely-watched S&P Case-Shiller national home-price index fell 16.6%, and experts are predicting further declines. Of the top 100 markets, here are 10 with the worst forecasts.

The whole list is here. Eight of the top 10 are in California. The other two are Miami, Florida and Washington, D.C.. All are looking at 20 percent or greater declines over the coming year.

Happy holidays!

Watch Peter Wallison of the American Enterprise Institute explain the role of the federal government in pumping up home ownership rates and values. The 25-minute talk is from Reason's 40th anniversary conference in November:

And go here for embed code, downloadable versions of the talk, and related materials.