Home Values Continued to Decline in Fourth Quarter, 1/3 of New Homeowners in the Red

Date:February 12, 2008 | Author:Stan Humphries | Category:Market Trends

Q4 Quarterly Report

Today Zillow released Home Value Reports for Q4 2007, which show home values are still on the decline with no signs of slowing just yet. Over the past year, Condo values have declined by 7.4% , while single-family homes have declined by 5.5% .

We’re also reporting on home equity which we did last quarter as well. Of those who bought in the last year, 30% have negative equity and for those who bought two years ago 39% now have negative equity – meaning they actually owe more on their mortgages than their homes are currently worth. Compare this grim situation to a survey we recently conducted, which found that 77% of homeowners believe their homes have either stayed the same or increased in value in the past year– clearly there is at least some denial out there (click image to enlarge).

updated-homeowner-chart-copy.gif

With the recent expansion of our database, this quarter we’re providing Home Value Reports in 125 different metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs). These reports provide details on a given market all the way down to the neighborhood level. To learn more, click the Quarterly Reports link at the bottom of any page on Zillow.com.

Or, join me for a conference call at 11 a.m. PT/2 p.m. ET today, where I will be discussing our quarterly findings in more detail. Simply dial in to 866-250-4375 to listen to a short presentation, followed by some open Q&A. You can download slides to follow along with this call on our press room at http://zillow.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=logo_gallery2. For those unable to make the call we will have audio clips available for download on the site.

Stay tuned for more analysis on this blog later this week.

Dr. Stan Humphries is a real estate economist and real estate expert for Zillow. Stan is in charge of the data and analytics team at Zillow, which develops housing market data for most major metropolitan statistical areas in the U.S., and provides economic research for current real estate market conditions. He helped create the algorithms for the popular Zestimate® home value and the Zillow Home Value Index (ZHVI).