The long run of declines in Dallas-Fort Worth home prices should turn positive next summer, according to a Dallasnews.com article sourcing an industry analyst's recent report.

First American CoreLogic, a California-based housing and finance information firm, is forecasting that home prices around the country will bottom by spring.

And in the DFW area, prices should be slightly positive by August, the firm's economists predict.

"In August 2010, the index is projecting that 12-month appreciation for Dallas-Plano-Irving home prices will be 0.21 percent," First American's latest report says.

That compares with a 0.12 percent decline in home prices here in the 12 months ending August 2009, the analyst said.

First American's current assessment of the DFW home market is a little more positive than other local and national measures, which say prices here are now down about 1 percent from a year ago.

But the research firm's assessment that residential values in North Texas are bottoming and will turn positive next year is in line with some other economists' forecasts.

Mark Fleming, chief economist for First American CoreLogic, said he expects nationwide home prices to "bounce around the bottom of the market in anticipation of a sustained recovery."

"While the majority of house price declines appear to be behind us, there are still a number of economic and institutional factors that are working against a solid and sustainable turnaround in the housing sector," Fleming said in his latest report. "As the economic landscape continues to change, so too will our forecasts."

First American estimates that nationwide home prices are down more than 10 percent in August from a year earlier. The biggest declines have come in Nevada, down 24.43 percent, and Arizona, down 19.53 percent.

But in Texas, prices are off only 0.26 percent from a year ago.

Houston – where prices are still up about 2 percent from last year – and Dallas were the best performing markets First American surveyed in August.

Source: Dallasnews.com