More Than One Fifth of All American Homeowners Now Underwater on a Mortgage

[seemslikeadream]

http://zillow.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=159&item=122

Continued Declining Home Values Nationwide Contribute to Fast-accelerating Rates of Negative Equity;


But Some Hardest- and Earliest-Hit Markets Showing Improvement in Year-Over-Year Value Declines, According to Q1 2009 Zillow® Real Estate Market Reports


SEATTLE, May 6 /PRNewswire/ -- Home values in the United States fell again in the first quarter, posting a year-over-year decline of 14.2 percent to a Zillow Home Value Index(1) of $182,378, according to the first quarter Zillow Real Estate Market Reports(2), which encompass 161 metropolitan areas and cover the value changes in all homes, not just homes that have recently sold.


(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cg ... ILLOWLOGO)


Declining home values left one fifth (21.9 percent) of all American homeowners with negative equity(3) by the end of the first quarter. By comparison, 17.6 percent of all homeowners owed more on their mortgage than their property was worth in the fourth quarter of 2008, and one in seven (14.3 percent) was underwater in the third quarter of 2008.


Nine consecutive quarters of declines have left eight regions - including the Modesto, Calif., Stockton, Calif. and Fort Myers, Fla. regions - with median value declines of more than 50 percent since those markets peaked. In 85 of the 161 markets covered in the report, the annualized change over the past five years is negative or flat.


But in an early sign of improvement, several hard-hit markets in California, like Los Angeles, San Diego and Modesto, have seen two or more consecutive quarters of smaller year-over-year declines in home values. In total, 17 markets have seen improvement for two or more quarters in year-over-year results.


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Ben Bernanke's testimony yesterday - say something else. Like this, for instance:


http://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/testimony/bernanke20090505a.htm

"However, the recent data also suggest that the pace of contraction may be slowing, and they include some tentative signs that final demand, especially demand by households, may be stabilizing. Consumer spending, which dropped sharply in the second half of last year, grew in the first quarter. In coming months, households' spending power will be boosted by the fiscal stimulus program, and we have seen some improvement in consumer sentiment. Nonetheless, a number of factors are likely to continue to weigh on consumer spending, among them the weak labor market and the declines in equity and housing wealth that households have experienced over the past two years. In addition, credit conditions for consumers remain tight.






"Gee, how can that be?"

It's just the emerging duality slapping you upside the head. Better get used to it:

[Mnemosyne]

1. Zillow had my house 'valued' at $93,000,

I paid $28,000 in 2004 and still feel I overpaid.

[lovuian]

2. Bernanke just doesn't have a clue

does he