Value of US homes continues to fall

The US housing market has been hammered by soaring foreclosures. AP photo

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/154771.html


The value of homes in the US is poised to drop as much as 1.7 trillion dollars or seven percent of their total value by the end of the year.

The home market will be worth USD 22.7 trillion by the end of this year.

"Despite a strong start to 2010, by the end of the year homes lost more of their value in 2010 than they did in 2009," said Stan Humphries, Zillow real estate data firm's chief economist.

According to the firm, losses come in more than 60 percent higher than last year's. Since the peak in 2006, US homes have lost a massive 9 trillion dollars in value through the end of 2009. This figure amounts to more than 60 percent of the US annual economic output.

The firm has blamed accelerated foreclosures and negative equity for real estate value deprecation in America. Experts still forecast a declining trend through next year.

Homeowners are now demanding lower property taxes worth billions at a time when municipalities are being forced to cut services, Bloomberg reported.

“The full weight of the decline in housing values has yet to hit the budgets of many cities and property tax revenues will likely decline further in 2011 and 2012,” a National League of Cities report stated in October.

In the previous year, homeowners saw equity values fall by USD 1 trillion versus 2008. Economists say home values will not see a true recovery in the next three to five years.