Housing pricesin major cities should register outright declines in the comingmonths, furtherdentingeconomicgrowth, at a time when the world is on the brinkof a recession.
Middle-development countries achieved a slightly lower growth rate, 1.9% a year, but seven out of 34 countries experienced outrightdeclines in living standards.
In addition, the sharp deceleration in home prices since 2005, including outrightdeclines in some markets, left many of these more-recent borrowers with little or no home equity.
Because of the decline in housing demand, the pace of house-price appreciation has slowed markedly, with some markets experiencing outright price declines.