No, it isn’t “all in your head.”
U.S. home values declined further in the fourth quarter of 2010, posting their largest quarter-over-quarter decline since Q1 2009 according to Zillow’s fourth quarter Real Estate Market Reports.
Home values dropped 2.6 percent, and the effects of the home buyer tax credits are being blamed.
Worse, negative equity (also known as underwater mortgages - where home are worth less than the mortgages attached to them) rose to 27 percent of all single-family homes with mortgages. That’s up from 23.2 percent in Q3 2010.
When they were in effect, the home buyer tax credits tempered home values decline, but with the end of the home buyer tax credits in mid-2010, home value declines accelerated toward the end of the year. 
Key Facts from the Report:
- The Zillow Home Value Index declined 5.9 percent year-over-year in the fourth quarter to $175,200.
- Home values fell 27 percent since they peaked in June 2006.
- Accelerating home value declines, as well as a slowdown in the nation’s foreclosure rate contributed to an increase in negative equity.
- 0.09 percent (or less than one in every 1,000) U.S. homes were liquidated in foreclosure in December, down from 0.12 percent in October, when foreclosure liquidations peaked.
Read the full press release from Zillow or read more about the home buyer tax credit connection.
Ilyce R. Glink is the author of several books, including 100 Questions Every First-Time Home Buyer Should Ask and Buy, Close, Move In!. She blogs about money and real estate at ThinkGlink.com and The Equifax Personal Finance Blog, and is Chief Content Strategist at RealtyJoin.com, a community for real estate investors.
Comments(1)