The rampant growth and subsequent collapse of the U.S. housing market has had far-reaching consequences that are still felt today. In some cities houses lost more than 60% of their value, decimating local economies. Unfortunately, in many of these areas, things are going to get much worse before they improve. 24/7 Wall St. has identified the ten metropolitan areas where home prices are expected to decrease the most by next year.

These areas will see already depressed home values continue to fall, record foreclosure rates to worsen and jobs continue to suffer.

Read The Cities Where Home Prices Continue to Collapse

Most of the metropolitan areas that are projected to undergo the greatest drops in home values by the second quarter of 2012 are also some of the worst-hit by the housing crash of 2006 – 2007. In eight of the ten areas on this list, housing prices have fallen by more than 50% from their peak, compared to a U.S. average drop of 32.3%. While in some areas, investors are recognizing the depressed prices as an opportunity to buy low, the current supply level ensures that these areas still have at least a year of continued decline.

The difference between these cities and those that are projected to start improving is mostly their size. Housing inventories are much smaller in the smaller cities. It is much easier to turn around a small housing market than a much larger one. Five of the metropolitan areas that are expected to continue to lose housing value have populations of a million or more. On the other hand, the metro areas that are projected to recover have only slightly more than 100,000 residents for the most part.

24/7 Wall St. reviewed data from Fiserv on the 384 metropolitan areas to identify the cities where home prices are expected to decline the most from the second quarter of 2011 to the second quarter of 2012. We also included future projected price increases, population, when the metropolitan areas reached their price peaks and unemployment rates, all provided by Fiserv.

These are the cities where home prices are expected to decrease the most by next year.

10. Merced, CA
> Change in home prices (2011Q2 to 2012Q2): -11.2%
> Change in home prices (2012Q2 to 2013Q2): 5.8%
> Population: 249,404
> Peak: 2006 Q1 (-69.1%)
> Unemployment: 19.6%

The median home value in Merced has dropped more than 69% since its peak in the first quarter of 2006. This is largest decline of any region in the U.S. over the past ten years. Fiserv projects housing prices in the metropolitan area will decline an additional 11.2% through the second quarter of next year. According to local news station KFSN-TV/DT, the city is showing signs of recovery as at least one housing developments that was halted because of the market’s collapse is beginning construction again.

9. Bethesda-Rockville-Frederick, MD
> Change in home prices (2011Q2 to 2012Q2): -11.3%
> Change in home prices (2012Q2 to 2013Q2): 0.8%
> Population: 1,218,771
> Prices reached peak in: 2006 Q2 (-26.1%)
> Unemployment: 5.5%

The Bethesda-Rockville-Frederick metropolitan area, which includes Frederick and Montgomery Counties, is located north of the D.C. region. As is the case of much of the area surrounding our nation’s capital, some of the wealthiest people in the country are located in the region. As of last quarter, the median home value was $330,000, and the median family income of $114,300 was the highest of any metro area in the country. Real estate values reached their peak in the second quarter of 2006, and have since dropped by 26.1%. They are expected to drop yet another 11.3% through the second quarter of 2012.

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8. Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL
> Change in home prices (2011Q2 to 2012Q2): -11.4%
> Change in home prices (2012Q2 to 2013Q2): 2.4%
> Population: 2,106,614
> Prices reached peak in: 2006 Q2 (-53.4%)
> Unemployment: 10.4%

Like most of the state of Florida, the Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford statistical area was hit hard by the housing crisis. Real estate prices have declined 53.4% since their peak value in 2006. By the second quarter of next year, Fiserv projects median home values to decline an additional 11.4%. According to the Orlando Sentinel, real estate prices are becoming so bad that the area leads the country in condominium to apartment conversions.

7. Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin, FL
> Change in home prices (2011Q2 to 2012Q2): -11.9%
> Change in home prices (2012Q2 to 2013Q2): -4.4%
> Population: 175,970
> Prices reached peak in: 2005 Q4 (-39.4%)
> Unemployment: 7.8%

The Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin region is located in the Florida panhandle, and consists of Okaloosa county. A large part of the county is owned by the armed forces, as there are three air force bases within the region, and a large percentage of the regional economy depends on the military as well as tourism. From a peak in late 2005, median home prices have dropped nearly 40%, and are expected to drop nearly 12% more by the second quarter of next year.

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6. Cape Coral-Fort Myers, FL
> Change in home prices (2011Q2 to 2012Q2): -12.2%
> Change in home prices (2012Q2 to 2013Q2): 1.0%
> Population: 592,655
> Prices reached peak in: 2006 Q1 (-59.3%)
> Unemployment: 11.1%

The Cape Coral-Fort Myers region of Florida once had one of the fastest-growing real-estate market in the country. Now, the area, located on the west coast of the state, is a model of a ruined market to the extent that real estate agents are giving “foreclosure tours” to show homes that have lost 60% or more of their value.

5. Salinas, CA
> Change in home prices (2011Q2 to 2012Q2): -13.0%
> Change in home prices (2012Q2 to 2013Q2): 5.4%
> Population: 415,400
> Prices reached peak in: 2006 Q1 (-61.1%)
> Unemployment: 13.4%

Salinas’s home values have dropped 61.1% from their peak in early 2006. This was the fifth biggest drop by any metropolitan area in the country during the housing crisis. Through the second quarter of 2012, home prices are expected to drop another 13%. Salinas has an unemployment rate of 13.4%, one of the highest in the country.

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4. Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall, FL
> Change in home prices (2011Q2 to 2012Q2): -13.5%
> Change in home prices (2012Q2 to 2013Q2): -5.2%
> Population: 2,524,220
> Prices reached peak in: 2007 Q1 (-53.6%)
> Unemployment: 12.2%

Compared to much of the state’s hard-hit regions, the Miami real estate market didn’t peak until the first quarter of 2007. Since then, home prices have dropped 53.6%. Miami’s large size — the area has over 2.5 million residents — makes it more difficult for the area to recover, and it will be at least another two years before prices bottom in the region. Miami home values are expected to drop 13.5% by the second quarter of 2012, and an additional 5.2% by the second quarter of 2013. According to the Miami Herald, the city is full of abandoned large structures that were once planned residential structures.

3. Riverside-San Bernadino-Ontario, CA
> Change in home prices (2011Q2 to 2012Q2): -14.8%
> Change in home prices (2012Q2 to 2013Q2): 5.9%
> Population: 4,216,209
> Prices reached peak in: 2006 Q2 (-55.4%)
> Unemployment: 14%

The massive Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario metro area contains the so-called “Inland Empire” of California. The region is one of the largest metropolitan statistical areas in the U.S. It also has one of the highest unemployment rates in the country, at 14%. Poor economic conditions have corresponded with a massive drop in home value of over 55% since they peaked in 2006. They are projected to drop an additional 14.8% by the second quarter of 2012.

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2. Las Vegas-Paradise, NV
> Change in home prices (2011Q2 to 2012Q2): -15.9%
> Change in home prices (2012Q2 to 2013Q2): -1.8%
> Population: 1,911,769
> Prices reached peak in: 2006 Q1 (-59.2%)
> Unemployment: 13.7%

Arguably, Las Vegas was riding the housing bubble more than any other city in the U.S. A decimated construction and real estate industry cut one of the fastest-growing regions in the country off at the knees. Since the first quarter of 2006, the median home value has dropped nearly 60% in the MSA, and is expected to drop another 15.9% by the halfway point of next year. Nearly 40% of the homes that have been sold in the region were residences that had formerly been foreclosed upon. Late last month, a panel of regional realtors convened to assess the long-term health of the area’s housing market. The conclusions were, according to the publication Vegas Inc., not optimistic.

1. Naples-Marco Island, FL
> Change in home prices (2011Q2 to 2012Q2): -18.6%
> Change in home prices (2012Q2 to 2013Q2): -3.9%
> Population: 321,861
> Prices reached peak in: 2006 Q1 (-54.6%)
> Unemployment: 10.8%

Located just to the south of the Cape Coral-Fort Meyers area, the Naples Region of Florida already suffered from the housing crisis. And according to Fiserv, the area’s problems have just begun. By the second quarter of next year, home prices in the region are projected to drop by another 18.6%. The following year, prices should fall another 3.9%. According to NaplesNews.com, “The Naples Area Board of Realtors has discredited the reports, saying they have not considered all the factors in the marketplace, including a declining inventory of homes.”

-Michael B. Sauter

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