If you’re concerned about the slide in home prices, a new survey won’t help you sleep better.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia asked 50 professional forecasters for their projections for home prices. The 36 who responded don’t see a rebound until 2010.

Now different forecasters use various measures of home prices. Those who rely on the S&P Case-Shiller Home Price Index said that measure would stop declining significantly in the second quarter of 2009.

Those who work with the house price indexes compiled by the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight are a little more optimistic, forecasting the end of the steep decline in the first quarter of 2009.

But let me remind you about that old adage real estate agents use about all real estate being local. You’re not buying or selling a house in all 50 states.

Housing, like the job market, can be strong in one area while weak in others.

Or it can be like Philadelphia. Real estate here never got too hot in the last boom, nor does it seem to be too cold in this housing slump.

The Case-Shiller index incorporates data for 20 major metropolitan markets, but Philadelphia is not one of them. That’s why when new data from that index is released — positive or negative — I sleep just fine.

Bacteria basher

A small Radnor biotech firm tackling the tough problem of drug-resistant bacteria got some attention from Scientific American.

PolyMedix Inc. said it is working on a polymer that could be used in paints, plastics and textiles to create surfaces that are “self-sterilizing.” CEO Nicholas Landekic is quoted in the article on the magazine’s Web site as saying that its compounds would become part of the surface of bedding, carpeting, countertops and towels.

What the article did not say was that PolyMedix is a penny stock. Its shares closed Wednesday at $1.02, up a penny.

A small company with 13 employees and ongoing operating losses, PolyMedix will need to find a corporate partner who could help bring such products to market.