The U.S. housing market may not return to balance during this decade, according to a new report from Wells Fargo Economics.

Home prices may hit bottom this year, and we could see slow improvement in sales and prices in following years. But full recovery is many years away, the company's economists concluded.

They weighed the slow growth of U.S. households and looked at the overhang of foreclosed property that will dribble on to the market over the next few years. Big supply and slow demand mean that home prices will be slow to recover. Weak price growth means that bankers will stay tight with mortgage money.

Housing markets are local, of course. St. Louis avoided the worst of the housing bubble and the foreclosure rate here is well below the national average. Then again, population growth here is relatively slow, which should limit demand in years ahead.

"Some regions will recover ahead of others, and opportunities for builders, developers and investors will still clearly exist in this environment," the authors wrote, although they didn't review the St. Louis market.

"If we had known that the hangover from last decade's housing boom would last this long, chances are that somebody would have taken away the punch bowl and turned off the lights to the party much sooner. Unfortunately, that never happened," says the report.