Things look better on the home front now compared to late last year, notes Bank of America Merrill Lynch ($9.82 0%), which revised its home price forecast recently to say "prices are bottoming now."
In November, BofA Merrill Lynch analysts forecast home prices would fall another 8% from the second quarter of 2011 through the first quarter of 2013. But home prices only dipped 3.2% during the second half of 2011, implying they'd need to decline another 4% to 5% to reach the original estimate.
BofAML doesn't think a drop that big is likely.
Read More: Home prices 'bottoming now,' BofA Merrill Lynch analysts say