Home values continued on a downward-facing slope by declining 0.3 percent in October, with more to come over 2012, according to real estate Web site ""Zillow"":http://www.zillow.com/.
[IMAGE]The company released a monthly Zillow Real Estate Market Report that found monthly depreciation rates nonetheless stabilizing as the housing market bottoms out.
""As expected, home values continue to fall in the back half of this year due to an abundance of housing supply relative to demand. Potential buyers remain on the
[COLUMN_BREAK]sidelines or doubled up in other households, despite record high housing affordability and historically low mortgage rates,"" Stan Humphries, chief economist with Zillow, said in a statement.
Zillow found declines for home values year-over-year by 5.1 percent to $147,900, as home values declined by 23.7 percent since peaking in May 2007.
Ninety-five of 15 metropolitan areas surveyed by Zillow saw monthly home values depreciate, with 39 metros reporting increases on the whole as values for 22 cities remained flat. The Web site noted ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├àÔÇ£positive signs├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├é┬Ø in harder-hit areas, such as Detroit, Miami, and Phoenix.
Some 10 metro areas observed appreciation for home values year-over-year, with seven metros ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô including some in Colorado, Oklahoma, and Wisconsin ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô seeing some rise in values.
""This crisis of consumer confidence along with high rates of negative equity, are the biggest factors hindering a housing recovery,├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├é┬Ø Humphries added.
├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├àÔÇ£However, I'm encouraged by the positive, albeit slow, progress in working down the unemployment rate, which should help to improve consumers' appetites for buying homes,├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├é┬Ø he said.