SEATTLE - Real estate data tracking firm Zillow.com is the latest to put a dollar value on U.S. mortgage losses, reporting today that homes have lost an estimated $2 trillion in value this year. Home values declined 8.4% year-over-year during the first three quarters of this year, the report continued, with Stockton, Calif. losing the most, 32.3% year-over-year, and Merced, Calif. following close behind with 31.2%.
Even worse was the announcement that 11.7 million borrowers are upside down on their mortgages, representing one in seven homeowners.
"This year marked the acceleration of the market correction, and is likely to end with the eighth consecutive quarter of declines in home values," said Dr. Stan Humphries, Zillow's vice president of data and analytics, in a statement.
"In general, homeowners in most areas we cover are struggling with foreclosures pouring into the market, large amounts of negative equity and dropping home values. On the positive side, in the third quarter, some markets-particularly those hit hardest in the downturn-showed smaller year-over-year declines than in the prior quarter," he said.
