Ask how the local or the national residential real estate market is doing, and most homeowners will talk of doom and gloom. But ask them if their own home value is sliding, and their answer is simple: not my house.
Home values in the Baltimore-Towson metro area fell 6.9 percent during the second quarter to $281,793 and 80 percent of homes in the area lost value in the last year, according to a report released today by online real estate database Zillow.com.
But owners just aren’t willing to believe their home is one of those, according to a separate Zillow report released last week. Nationally, 62 percent of homeowners thought their home value increased or stayed the same in the last year and 75 percent expected it to increase or stay the same in the next six months, the survey found.
“I think that the data points to it being a lot more denial than inattention,” said Stan Humphries, vice president of data and analytics for Zillow. “They give a more honest appraisal about their own market than they do about their own homes.”
The disconnect between homeowner perception and reality isn’t a surprise, said Bill Cassidy, sales manager at Long and Foster Fells Point.
“I’d almost call it wishful thinking. They think they’ll get that price but until you put it on the market and settle, [you don’t know],” he said. “What they hope to get, what they need to get and what the market can give them are three different stories.”
More homes have been selling for a loss in the last year, according to Zillow’s data. In the second quarter, 15.3 percent of homes were sold at a loss, with 12.1 percent in the last year, while only 7.5 percent went for a loss in the last five years.
According to data released Friday by Realtor-owned Metropolitan Regional Information Systems Inc., home prices fell 2.46 percent in July and 6.9 percent in June. That data is based on home sales, while Zillow also evaluates homes not recently sold.
The number of homeowners in the Baltimore-Towson area with negative equity — owing more on a mortgage than the home is worth — has also increased. Of those who bought a home in 2003, only 0.4 percent are underwater on their mortgage. But 34.2 percent of 2007 buyers and 32.1 percent of 2006 buyers have negative equity, according to the report. Condo and co-op prices fell 6.8 percent in the second quarter to $238,154.
