Almost 3 in 10 US homeowners underwater in Q1

• According to the Zillow.com home value index of $182,378 US homes values posted a YoY decline of 14.2% and a 21.8% drop since the peak of 2006.
• Total US homes lost $704 billion in value in Q1 2009 and have depreciated $3.8 trillion YoY. 
• Declining home values left 28.9% of all American homeowners with negative equity by end of Q1 2009.
• Number of homeowners underwater:

Quarter	Percentage
Q3 2008	14.3%
Q4 2008	17.6%
Q1 2009	28.9%

• 3 regions that have seen a decline of 50% or more include:
  1. Modesto, CA
  2. Stockton, CA
  3. Fort Meyers, FL
• There were signs of improvement in 17 metropolitan areas.  These areas have seen two consecutive quarters of smaller YoY declines in home values.
  • California
  • Los Angeles
  • San Diego
  • Modesto
• In a another survey of homeowner sentiment.  31% of homeowners said they would be at least somewhat likely to put their homes on the market in the next 12 months if they saw signs of a recovering real estate market.  
• “Given the magnitude of the current rates of decline, we’re still many months away from a bottom even as depreciation slows.” – Dr. Stan Humphries (Zillow VP of data and analytics)
• The survey over homeowner sentiment showed further information that a bottom in home values could take even longer as supplies keep on going into the market.
• Through their calculations, an additional 20 million homes could exude into the market as soon as signs of stability is seen in the market.
• “I'm doubtful that we'll see the bottom until 2010, and thereafter it's increasingly clear that we're likely to have a long bottom before we see meaningful recovery in home values," Humphries said.
• Of all transactions in the past 12 months:

	Q4 2008	Q1 2009
Foreclosures	19.9%	20.4%
Short Sales	10.9%	11.9%

Source: Reuters & Zillow.com