Reproduced with permission
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Zillow says it's official: Market hit bottom

SEATTLE – July 24, 2012 – Experts still question Zillow’s forecasts, but their latest one could convince skittish buyers to jump into the market: The company says its Zillow Home Value Index (ZHVI) rose on an annual basis for the first time since 2007 in the second quarter, increasing 0.2 percent year-over-year to $149,300. Zillow execs say a pattern of price increases indicates that the real estate market has hit bottom.

“After four months with rising home values and increasingly positive forecast data, it seems clear that the country has hit a bottom in home values,” says Zillow Chief Economist Dr. Stan Humphries. “The housing recovery is holding together despite lower-than-expected job growth, indicating that it has some organic strength of its own.

Nearly one-third of metros in the ZHVI – 53 out of 167 – posted an annual increase in home values. The largest increase came in Phoenix, where home values are up 12.1 percent compared to the second quarter of 2011.

In a separate report that forecasts future home values, Zillow expects 67 of 156 markets to see value increases over the next year, with the largest increases expected in the Phoenix (9.9 percent) and Miami areas (6.1 percent). U.S. home values are expected to rise 1.1 percent.

“Of course, there is still some risk as we look down the foreclosure pipeline and see foreclosure starts picking up,” says Humphries. “This will translate into more homes on the market by the end of the year, but we think demand will rise to absorb that, particularly in markets where there are acute inventory shortages now. Looking forward, we expect home values to remain relatively flat as the market works through a backlog of foreclosures and high rates of negative equity.”

© 2012 Florida Realtors®