US Zillow Home Value Index Down 29.5% From 2006 Peak

According to a Zillow.com blog posting titled "No Respite from Housing Recession in First Quarter", 28.4% of single-family homes in the United States are now "underwater".

What does it mean if a home is "underwater"? It means that the home is valued at less than what is owing on the mortgage (or mortgages). So, 28.4% of all single-family homes in the United States are now worth less than what is owed on the mortgage(s).

In case you were wondering, the 28.4% figure is an all-time high. In Q4/2010, 27% of all single-family US homes were "underwater".

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As you can probably guess, the information contained in Zillow's report is pretty glum.

According to the site, US home values have fallen 8.2% from Q1/2010. The US Zillow Home Value Index is now down 29.5% from its peak in June of 2006. According to Zillow, the US housing recession has now lasted 57 months, and there doesn't appear to be an end in sight.

Only one metro area in the United States showed a positive change YoY (Honolulu). One metro area was flat (Pittsburgh), while the rest were all down from Q1/2010. According to Zillow, Detroit and Atlanta were two of the metropolitan areas that have been the hardest hit over the past year.

From Q1/2010 to Q1/2011, an unbelievable 74.5% of homes in the United States dropped in value. This is still well off from the peak of 85.5% in Q1 of 2009, but an astonishing (and painful) drop nonetheless.

According to Zillow, 37.7% of the homes that were sold in the United States in March of 2011 were sold at a loss. This is another record.

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Zillow estimates that the average home in the United States will drop 7-9% in value in 2011, and that a bottom in the US real estate market won't come until late 2011 to 2012 "at the earliest."

Source: Zillow.com - No Respite from Housing Recession in First Quarter

Filed under: Real Estate News