Zillow Appreciation Values

I found an interesting article from www.realtrends.com with some home value statistics that were compiled by Zillow. As you will see, our market here on the Central Coast would be mostly the upper middle to top categories of price. In looking at the 5 year index, appreciation isn't as bad as it seems. That's the benefit of looking at the "Big Picture" and not just what's happened recently.

According to Zillow, a home's value may affect net gain or loss

While declining values and compressed equity have plagued many U.S. homeowners in recent years, the value of a home relative to others locally may very well
influence how much equity a home lost or gained last year, according to new
analysis by real estate Web site Zillow.com of its Q4 Home Value Report. Zillow
has broken down the U.S. housing market and 125 Metropolitan Statistical Areas
(MSAs) into five value bands - Bottom, Lower Middle, Middle, Upper Middle and
Top - each representing 20 percent of the market, to illustrate how homes of
varying value performed in 2007 and over the last five years.

Value Band Definitions and Change in Value

National / Zindex=$224,890 /1 year change = -3.0%/5-year annualized = 6.9%
Bottom /< $140,999 / 1 year change = -0.7% / 5 year annualized = 10.1% Lower Middle /$141,000 - $211,999 / 1 year change = -5.4% / 5 year annualized = 8.4% Middle / $212,000 - $300,499 / 1 year change = -6.2% / 5 year annualized = 7.3% Upper Middle /$300,500 - $460,499/ 1 year change = -6.5% / 5 year annualized = 6.6% Top / > $460,500 / 1 year change = -7.5% / 5 year annualized = 5.4%