With the economy still in the slumps, some homeowners might resort to selling their homes – but extreme caution must be taken as housing market is foreseen to further decline.

Evidence shows that home prices may continue to decline – or plateau – in the next three years. CoreLogic revealed data saying that home prices remained unchanged in July, compared to last year’s numbers. This is the first time in five months when the housing market has not seen a year-over-year increase. When compared with June’s figures, July saw a 0.6% decline in home prices.

Another thing that the housing market worries about is the inventory: the number of available homes keeps on growing and mortgage holders are still defaulting. An estimate of 12 million homes will hit the market in the next three years. Homes with delinquent loans – or euphemistically called ‘shadow inventory’ – may be put up for sale in the same time period.

Moody’s, Fannie Mae, Barclays and Morgan Stanley have released analysis that reveals a 28% drop for the housing market since 2006. Summer of 201 has especially been depressing: National Association of Realtors says July had a drop of 25.5% in existing home sales. This, according to NAR, is the lowest level since 1995.

With prices continually falling, sales won’t be able to rebound. With the slightest housing market improvement in the next six months, 5% of the nation’s total homes – or 3.8 million – will hit the market. This is according to online real estate search company Zillow’s data.

Even with government assistance, such as tax credits, low interest rates, and loans, the market is still not faring well. Maybe the debate about the government stepping down and doing nothing has merits after all.