U.S. Home Values Continue to Fall, But Rate of Decline Stabilizes

According to the Zillow Real Estate Market Reports released today, national home values have continued to decline, dipping 0.3 percent from September to October 2011. There is a bit of a silver lining in this month’s report, however, as the rate of monthly depreciation has stabilized around -0.2 percent to -0.3 percent over the last few months, which is “an improvement from the rates reached in the fall of last year,” Zillow Chief Economist, Dr. Stan Humphries, said in his analysis on the Zillow Research page.

Of the 156 metropolitan statistical areas covered in the Zillow Real Estate Market Reports, 95 showed monthly home value depreciation and 39 metros showed monthly home value increases. Twenty-two metros remained flat. The “crisis of consumer confidence along with high rates of negative equity are the biggest factors hindering a housing recovery,” said Humphries. “However, I’m encouraged by the positive, albeit slow, progress in working down the unemployment rate which should help to improve consumers’ appetites for buying homes.”

Zillow expects homes values to fall another 2-4 percent before reaching a bottom in 2012.