For the first time in two years, national home values registered a decline for two straight months, according to the ""Zillow Real Estate Market Reports"":http://www.zillow.com/blog/research/2013/11/25/real-estate-market-report-october-2013/ released Tuesday. Furthermore, while annual price gains continue, they are cooling, according to ""Zillow."":http://www.zillow.com/
[IMAGE]Home values declined a slight 0.1 percent over the month of October but rose 5.2 percent over the year, according to Zillow.
""The months-long period of annual home value appreciation rates in the 6 and 7 percent range was great while it lasted, but we knew it would not continue indefinitely,"" said Zillow's chief economist, Stan Humphries.
In fact, Humphries went on to say the fading momentum is ""largely welcome news for a market still struggling to find its natural balance.""
Over the next 12 months, Zillow expects values to rise 2.7 percent.
[COLUMN_BREAK]Rising mortgage rates and growing inventories ""will lead to further normalization in the market going forward,"" Humphries said.
Over the month of October, half of the 388 markets Zillow observes registered price declines, including seven of the 30 largest metros.
The greatest declines took place in St. Louis (-1.5 percent), Philadelphia (-0.9 percent), and New York (-0.7 percent).
The steepest increases took place in Las Vegas (1.5 percent), Los Angeles (1.2 percent), and Miami (1.2 percent).
All 30 metros continued to post gains over the year in October.
Of the 30 largest metros, the highest value increases over the year took place in Las Vegas (33.2 percent), Riverside, California (30.4 percent), and Sacramento, California (30.4 percent).
Like home values, rents also continued yearly gains; but unlike home prices, they posted a monthly gain in October. Rents are up 2.3 percent over the year and 0.2 percent over the month.
Foreclosures decreased slightly in October while foreclosure re-sales increased, according to Zillow.
Instances of foreclosures fell from 5.5 in every 10,000 homes to 5.44 in every 10,000.
Foreclosure re-sales increased 0.5 percentage points to 8.7 percent of home sales in October, according to Zillow.