It's not the doom and gloom predictions of the past suggesting a decrease in home prices of 20 percent to 30 percent or more. Money Magazine cited a report from Fiserv Lending Solutions that analyzed the 100 largest markets in the country, and it predicted Las Vegas will have the steepest decline in home prices between April 2007 and April 2008.

The projected 8.9 percent drop for Las Vegas follows a 5 percent decline in the last 12 months, the magazine reported. The expected drop for Las Vegas eclipses an 8.8 percent decline predicted for Miami. No other city is expected to have more than a 6 percent decline.

The reason behind the decline is that regions that saw the greatest appreciation and speculation during the boom are "now taking the hardest hit - and will continue to do so until all the air is out of the bubble," Money reported.

The expected drop mirrors the prediction by the Nevada Association of Realtors, which reported prices will drop 7 percent to 10 percent by early 2008.

Even the National Association of Realtors isn't painting a rosy picture of the housing market. It announced April 11 that it expects home prices to fall for the first time since it started tracking them nearly 40 years ago.

The NAR predicts prices for the nation as a whole will drop 0.7 percent. The reason is that many lenders in the subprime mortgage sector have stopped making loans because of delinquencies and defaults.

It predicted that markets that saw huge price gains in 2004 and 2005 will see declines.

Even Jeffrey Mezger, chief executive of KB Home, said he expects the housing slump to worsen. Mezger - who took over for Bruce Karatz, who stepped down when a stock option scandal broke - said it will get tougher before it gets better. He added it will get better because of the growth in jobs.

KB Home's earnings dropped in the first quarter, and the company warned that because of the subprime mortgage sector, it would have lower sales and profits this year.

Kenneth Heebner, who manages the CGM Realty Fund, one of the top-performing real estate funds over the past decade, said the nation's home prices may plunge as much as 20 percent in some markets because of rising defaults from subprime loans. That would flood the real estate market and prices and be the "biggest housing price decline since the Great Depression," he told Bloomberg.com.

Las Vegas has the highest foreclosure rate in the country.

CGM Realty holds shares of Las Vegas Sands Corp. Heeber sold homebuilder stocks after owning them from 2001 to 2005.

Mr. Shipping Container, Arnie Stalk, who is working on producing homes out of shipping containers for disasters and permanent use, has been named a "Daily Point of Light" by the Points of Light Foundation in Washington, D.C. Over his career, he designed a methadone clinic in Los Angeles and served on other organizations. He is a member of the board of directors of the American Red Cross, Southern Nevada chapter and United Way of Southern Nevada.

The event is open to the public and features more than 200 vendors, including real estate firms, related businesses, booths featuring fashion and beauty. One-day passes cost $30. For more information, go to www.lasvegasrealtor.com