Those cities hit hardest by the housing crisis won't fully recover for many years, and in some cases, decades, according to a study by the Mortgage Bankers Association.

The report, also citing figures from Moody's.com, says some cities in California, Nevada and Arizona may not return to pre-bust housing price levels, adjusted for inflation, until 2030. California and parts of Florida took nasty beatings.

"The study found that Stockton, Modesto, Vallejo and Salinas in California, as well as Cape Coral-Fort Myers and Port St. Lucie in Florida, were among the metro areas with the largest price drops from 2006 through 2009," according to the study, The Wall Street Journal reports.

"Stockton saw average home prices drop 75 percent, adjusted for inflation, while Modesto and Cape Coral suffered declines of 73 percent and 60 percent, respectively."

Most of the cities in the report are suffering due to the recent housing crisis, not like in the past where home prices suffered when manufacturing concerns in places Buffalo, N.Y., and Cleveland, Ohio, went under.

"The housing crisis leads to a completely different list with declines that surpass the competition for the worst housing declines in the U.S. since 1980," the report says.

While the economy recovers from the recent recession, a weak housing market will drag on the pace at which things improve, says Joseph Tracy, an executive vice president and senior adviser to the president at the New York Federal Reserve Bank.

The rising number of defaulted mortgages "continues to weigh down any recovery in the housing market," says Tracy, according to Reuters.
"Distressed sales are expected to grow even further over the coming year."