PMI Mortgage Insurance Co., (NYSE:PMI) , today released its Second Quarter 2009 Economic and Real Estate Trends Report, and its widely cited U.S. Market Risk Index(SM). The quarterly report projects the likelihood that the nation’s housing prices will be lower in two years, and Glendale California is in the Top 10 Risk Index.

As many as 324 – approximately 85% – of the nation’s 381 MSAs (Metropolitan Statistical Areas) are now facing increased risk of lower home prices in 2011. Florida, California, Nevada and Arizona continue to have the highest risk scores – 36 of the most risky MSAs are located in these four states – but an increased risk of lower future prices is now spreading across all regions of the nation, due to the significant increases in unemployment and foreclosure rates.

“Rapidly rising foreclosure and unemployment rates, continuing declines in house prices, and weakening consumer demand all worked to increase risk in the general economy, and the housing market specifically,” said David Berson, PMI’s Chief Economist and Strategist. “As a result of the continued weakness in prices, and the relatively low level of interest rates, improvements in affordability across the nation’s MSAs will continue to incentivize repeat and first-time homebuyers back into the market.”

PMI’s U.S. Market Risk Index(SM) ranks the nation’s 50 largest metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) and uses economic, housing, and mortgage market factors (home price appreciation, employment, affordability, excess housing supply, interest rates, and foreclosure activity). Risk scores translate directly into a probability (ranging from zero to 100) that the price of homes in a given MSA will on average be lower at the end of the next two years.

A complete copy of the PMI Second Quarter 2009 Economic and Real Estate Trends(SM) (ERET) report and Appendix that provides data for all 381 U.S. MSAs is available at: http://www.pmi-us.com/econ.

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