Moody's Zandi says US home prices bottom Sept. '09

WASHINGTON, Dec 8 (Reuters) - The U.S. housing market is very near a bottom for home sales and prices will hit their low in September, Moody's Economy.com economist Mark Zandi said on Monday.

"I think home sales are pretty close to bottom," he told an Office of Thrift Supervision housing conference. "Foreclosure sales, distress sales, are about forty percent of the market. Of course a bad jobs market means we'll have a couple months more of weak sales."

Prices are likely to bottom in September, he said.

"In terms of housing construction, housing starts, the bottom is this summer which means it will be a pretty low bottom," he said. (Reporting by Patrick Rucker; Editing by James Dalgleish)