Home value a gray area for owners

Real estate site Zillow.com reported a disconnect in real estate reality vs. consumer perceptions -- both in overestimating and underestimating actual changes in home values -- based on its latest quarterly Homeowner Confidence Survey, released today.

Nationally, about 49 percent of survey participants reported that their home's value decreased in the past 12 months, while Zillow found that 72 percent of homes decreased in value, based on the company's estimates.

The online survey was conducted for Zillow by Harris Interactive from Oct. 6 to Oct. 8 and had 1,471 homeowner participants and 2,081 total respondents.

Much closer to reality was the share of respondents who estimated their home's value has increased in the past year, at 25 percent, compared with Zillow's estimate of homes that increased in value, at 22 percent.

About 17 percent of participating homeowners said they expect their home's value to fall in the next six months, while 43 percent expect it will stay the same and 41 percent expect it to increase.

Homeowners in the Northeast region were most likely to underreport home-value increases, Zillow reported. About 20 percent of homeowner participants in that region reported that their home value has increased in the past year, compared with Zillow's estimate that 31 percent of homes in that region increased in value.

And homeowners in the West were overly optimistic about value rises, Zillow found: 28 percent said their home had a value increase in the past year, compared with the company's estimate of a 17 percent actual rise in value.

That compares with the 53 percent share of homeowner participants in the West who believe their home lost value in the past year, and Zillow's estimate that 78 percent of homes in that region lost value. ...CONTINUED

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