Zillow sees home prices falling this year. Apart from a blip a couple years ago, it would be the first time prices fell since the Great Financial Crisis

• If the forecast comes to fruition, it would be the first time home prices fell on a national level, on an annual basis (apart from a blip two years ago), since the Great Financial Crisis when home values fell year-over-year every month from July 2007 to June 2012.  But “it is a very different environment,” a Zillow senior economist explained—and while it may help buyers some, it won’t put sellers underwater.

Home prices rarely fall. But that may change. 

Zillow...