Since my “Predictions for 2010″ were exactly 13 days late in January, it seems only fitting that the mid-year review should occur with the same lag, and that’s the subject of this quick look back to what was going through my head six months ago.

As is clear to see below, there is great danger in making predictions that are too specific – they’re much more likely to be wrong. Anyway, off we go…

1. Maybe the Last Really Bad Year for Housing

It’s hard to understand how anyone can really think that the nation’s housing market managed to “stabilize” in 2009 when prices continued to decline on a year-over-year basis even after government support to this sector on a scale never before seen by Mankind.

Homebuyer tax credits, central bank purchases of mortgage-backed-securities, a sharp increase in FHA lending, and a host of other factors have merely “kicked the can down the road” and that road will be “uphill” in 2010. Mounting foreclosures, loan resets, and an increasing number of homeowners who simply “walk away” from underwater mortgages will cause a relapse in housing this year and month-to-month gains will turn back to losses.

As measured by the 20-city S&P Case-Shiller Home Price Index for October 2010 (to be released in late-December), home values will decline by another 8 percent. The U.S. government will extend the homebuyer tax credit again in the summer and late-2010 will be a good time to start looking to buy property in most parts of the country.

The homebuyer tax credits have come and gone and home sales appear to be plunging off a cliff with price declines looking like they’ll accelerate over the summer.

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