Is the market starting to turn ?

Read the article below regarding the decrease in Orange County homes with mortgages larger than the value; aka "NEGATIVE EQUITY"

Online real estate tracker Zillow reports that the share of Orange County single-family homes with mortgages larger than the current value of the home — so-called “negative equity” or “underwater” — fell to 14% percent in the third quarter, down from 20.7% in Q2.

  • That follows the nationwide trend: 21% of U.S. homes had negative equity in the third quarter vs. 23% in Q2.
  • Zillow credits the improvements to stabilizing home values and more underwater homeowners losing their homes to foreclosure.
  • Zillow puts O.C. home depreciation for Q3 at 4.46% a year. Year-over-year home values in the United States declined for the 11th consecutive quarter, falling 6.9%.
  • 22.3% of O.C. home sales involved foreclosures vs. 21.4% nationally. Merced? 72%! Vegas? 67%!
  • 19.2% of O.C. homes sold in September were sold at a loss.
  • 26% of O.C. homes have had their values increase, by Zillow’s math, in the past 12 months.

Zillow Chief Economist Stan Humphries on nationwide conditions: “With the extension of the $8,000 first-time homebuyer tax credit and a new $6,500 credit for some repeat homebuyers, we could see a bump in demand that could partially offset the increased supply of foreclosed homes on the market. The credits are likely to bring continued stabilization in prices over this period, versus the price declines that we almost certainly would see otherwise. Whether this stabilization will be sustainable after the tax credits expire, however, is yet to be seen. Some of the demand that we are buying with tax credits we are also borrowing from the future, and will likely have to pay for later in the form of weaker-than-normal demand.”

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