The numbers available so far for 2008 give a read on the first quarter and since so many on the national scene are making predictions about the bottom of this market and where it might be, I thought you might want to make some predictions, too.

As a starting point, Yale University economist Robert Shiller, admittedly bearish and known for the S&P Case-Shiller home price index, said this week that U.S. housing prices could fall farther than they did during the Great Depression. At that time, prices decreased by 30 percent.

Here’s where price changes stand, year-over-year, in Pierce County for the first three months of 2008, according to the Northwest Multiple Listing Service.

March: -6.02 percent
February: -7.8 percent
January: -2.5 percent

For additional context, prices in Pierce County have decreased compared to the same month the previous year in the last six of seven months. So where do you think prices are headed? Did we find the bottom of this market correction in March? Or will we be waiting through the rest of 2008, and perhaps 2009, or even farther down the road?

It seems the biggest factor in the near-future could be financing -- how readily it's attained, how strict lenders continue to be and how expensive loans are to get, considering the fees being tacked on in today's lending climate.