Market Stats of 379 Cities

If you've recently gambled that Las Vegas housing prices would continue to rise this year, you may be on the losing side of the bet.

According to the latest housing price forecasts from Fiserv Lending Solutions, a provider of mortgage and consumer lending services, Las Vegas real estate will tumble a whopping 8.2 percent in 2006, the largest predicted fall among the 379 metro areas studied.

Home prices on hold
How the five biggest metro areas will perform.

Metro area Median home price Forecast growth (loss) for 2006
New York $395,000 (2.3%) (negative growth)
Los Angeles $438,000 (1.9%) (negative growth)
Chicago $255,000 0.6% (neutral to moderate growth)
Houston $145,000 6.1% (moderate growth)
Atlanta $182,000 4.6% (moderate growth)

Source: Fiserv Lending Solutions

Fiserv forecasts a significant stagnation in housing prices for the United States in 2006 -- median home prices overall will inch up only 1.5 percent this year. And many metro areas will experience drops, including some of the largest, and most expensive, ones such as New York (down 2.43 percent), Los Angeles (down 3 percent) and Washington (down 1.9 percent).

Phoenix, one of the fastest-growing areas the past couple of years, is another town too hot not to cool down. Fiserv predicts an increase of just 3.3 percent.

Some of the metro areas that have lagged over the past few years, however, may play a bit of catch-up. Fiserv forecasts Houston, where the median home price stands at a modest $145,000, to grow by 6.1 percent. San Antonio (median price is $138,000) should do even better, rising 8.3 percent. Memphis, where prices average $129,000, should see a rise of 7.8 percent.

Some of the recently cooler markets in the Northeast are also expected to be among the winners this year. Rochester, New York, where median homes average only $120,000, should see prices rise 8 percent. Neighboring Syracuse will rise 7.8 percent and Scranton, Pennsylvania will increase 7.6 percent.


Price forecasts for 379 metro areas for 2006.
By Les Christie, CNNMoney.com staff writer
February 3, 2006: 10:31 AM EST

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -

For a full link to this article go here for a full breakdown of forecasts for 379 metro areas, ranked by median home price throughout the country.