The U.S. housing market has been wobbly for several years, but it has shown some signs of perking up in recent months. The latest reports, however, indicate a setback, with median home prices dropping slightly and sales well below the already depressed levels of 2009. Yet a combination of low mortgage rates and apparent home-price bargains should still be drawing some buyers into the market. Knowledge at Wharton spoke with Wharton real estate professor Susan M. Wachter about the housing market’s slow recovery, the prospect of another sharp dip in prices, the effect of foreclosures on the economy, and what it will take to get the market back on track. An edited transcript of the conversation follows. Knowledge at Wharton: The latest figures are showing a slight dip in home prices, and sales are still well below where they were a year ago, which was below where they had been previously. Is this just a bump in the road or an anomaly in the figures, or is this serious?…