Another housing prognosticator has weighed in with a prediction that the downturn is in the, uh, well, the home stretch. This time, it’s David Berson, chief economist at Fannie Mae, who told reporters last week that the “biggest declines are behind us.” “There are still some (declines) to go,” he said at a National Press Club briefing, where he presented Fannie May’s 2007 outlook for the economy and mortgage market. “But the worst is over.”

Although key housing market benchmarks have stabilized in recent months in response to lower mortgage rates and warmer-than-normal temperatures, Berson expects sales to fall further in 2007. He is predicting a 7-8 percent drop in sales, which he said “is more than just a little bit, but not as much as last year.” Fannie Mae expects that when all the numbers are in, new homes sales will be down 17.2 percent for 2006 and existing homes will slip by 8 percent, to 1.06 million and 6.51 million, respectively. For 2007, new home sales will dip 7.1, to 999,000, while existing home transactions will fall another 8 percent, to 5.98 million.

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