More homes selling at a loss, Zillow says
Zillow.com said today that about one in eight homes sold in the Baltimore metro area in the last 12 months went for less than the seller originally paid. Just under 5 percent of homes sold were in foreclosure, according to the company's newest real estate market report.
Zillow sees worse signs of distress elsewhere, reporting that nearly one in four U.S. homes sold in the past 12 months were a loss for the seller and nearly 15 percent of homes sold were foreclosures.
From its press release:
U.S. home values in the second quarter posted the largest year-over-year decline in the past 12 years, dropping 9.9 percent from the year-ago quarter and 1.7 percent from the first quarter to a U.S. Zillow Home Value Index (HVI) of $206,919. ... The median U.S. home value has not been this low since the fourth quarter of 2004, leaving nearly one-third (29.1%) of homeowners who purchased since 2003 with negative equity.
Comments
It would be interesting to see how many of the sellers, who sold for less, purchased their home within the last few years.
I know my husband and I looked at the market about 4 years ago, took one look at the insanity in the housing market and withdrew.
I cannot feel sorry for those people who over-paid for their house, because I believe they did so knowingly. Anyone with a grasp in reality should have seen the writing on the wall and should have done as we did. BACK OFF.
The fact that they chose to buy anyway proves that they had no idea of what was involved in the purchase of a home and so as quoted, a fool and his money are soon parted. Besides, from what I read (0% down!!!!), I'd bet they have no money in the transaction anyway.
Posted by: Anon | August 12, 2008 10:37 AM
These people have nothing to cry about. The cost of money has gone up more than 9.9% (probably closer to 20%) so to buy the same house today would cost more per month, assuming you could even get a mortgage today.
Posted by: Jerm | August 12, 2008 3:29 PM
Is that selling at a loss in real(including inflation) dollars or simply the difference in amount paid and amount sold? I couldn't really glean this from the article. If it's the latter, the situation is even worse than this gloomy report.
Posted by: Kevin R | August 12, 2008 4:23 PM
Kevin R, Zillow says the figures are not inflation-adjusted. I don't often see housing stats that are adjusted for inflation, actually.
Posted by: Jamie Smith Hopkins | August 12, 2008 4:50 PM
I just don't get this market. I have yet to see price drops anywhere near the run-up of the last 10 years. California and Florida markets are crashing - but Baltimore has barely budged. What gives?
Posted by: Darwin Rules | August 13, 2008 12:23 PM
Baltimore trails DC price patterns by 1-2 years. The following website has the price trends: http://mysite.verizon.net/vodkajim/housingbubble/index.html
Posted by: Semiconscious | August 13, 2008 2:08 PM