Depending on Where You Live, a Home's Value May Affect Net Gain or Loss, According...

Depending on Where You Live, a Home's Value May Affect Net Gain or Loss,
According to Zillow.com(R)
For Example: Higher valued homes in San Francisco, Washington, DC, LA doing
better than average while lower valued homes in Baltimore, Chicago, Detroit
outperforming all others

SEATTLE, March 31 /PRNewswire/ -- 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
1-Year 5 Year
Zindex(R)(2) Annualized
Value Band(1) Value Range Change Zindex Change

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

Higher valued homes saw largest drop in 2007 nationally but local picture can
look quite different
Nationally, higher valued homes, representing the top 20 percent of the
market, have seen values decline more significantly than lower valued homes.
Homes in the Top quintile declined 7.5 percent from 2006 while Bottom quintile
homes depreciated least, down less than one percent (0.7%). Over the last five
years, homes in the Bottom and Lower Middle quintiles returned the most
significant rates of annualized growth at 10.1 percent and 8.4 percent
respectively.
Digging a bit deeper, wide variances at the local level are apparent. For
example, when reviewing year-over-year value changes across value bands for
2007, Zillow found within the top 25 largest metro areas:
* Higher valued homes outperformed lower valued homes in nearly half of
the top MSAs
* Lower valued homes outperformed higher valued homes in approximately 20
percent of these markets
* There is little or no difference across quintiles in the remaining Top
25 regions

Sample Top MSAs where Top Quintile Performed Better than Middle Quintile:
MSA MSA YoY Top YOY Middle YOY
Change Quintile Change Quintile Change

San Francisco-
Oakland-
Fremont -6.7% > $845,500 2.8% $541,000 - $673,999 -6.7%
Washington-
Arlington-
Alexandria -6.3% > $524,500 2.4% $337,500 - $412,499 -7.8%
New York-
Northern New
Jersey-Long
Island -3.5% > $598,500 -4.1% $383,500 - $468,999 -5.3%
Los Angeles-
Long Beach-
Santa Ana -10.6% > $708,000 -4.1% $485,000 - $566,999 -13.7%
Boston-
Cambridge-
Quincy -4.2% > $483,000 -4.7% $326,000 - $391,999 -8.2%
San Diego-
Carlsbad-
San Marcos -10.3% > $610,500 -5.1% $413,000 - $486,499 -14.2%

Sample Top MSAs where Bottom Quintile Performed Better than Middle Quintile:
MSA MSA YoY Bottom YOY Middle YOY
Change Quintile Change Quintile Change

Chicago-
Naperville-
Joliet -4.2% < $150,499 -2.2% $207,000 - $262,499 -6.6%
Detroit-
Warren-
Livonia -8.9% < $79,499 0.1% $108,500 - $146,999 -12.4%
Seattle-
Tacoma-
Bellevue -2.6% < $221,999 -0.5% $297,000 - $366,499 -2.8%
Baltimore-
Towson -1.4% < $137,999 8.8% $233,000 - $297,499 -4.3%
Portland-
Vancouver-
Beaverton -1.0% < $202,999 2.3% $244,000 - $289,999 -2.9%
Nashville-
Davidson-
Murfreesboro 0.4% < $97,499 4.6% $130,000 - $161,999 0.7%

"At the national level, the pattern we're seeing may be due to the fact
that many higher priced homes can be found in many of the metro regions hit
hardest by steep value declines, which is supported when looking deeper at the
local level," said Dr. Stan Humphries, vice president of data & analytics at
Zillow. "In some markets like San Francisco and New York, higher priced homes
have actually performed better. This can be attributed to the fact that in
many markets more expensive areas, closer to the city center, are holding
value better than suburban areas further away where homes are often less
expensive.
"One fairly constant finding -- regardless of geography or major movements
in value -- is that owners of lower-valued homes tend to have significantly
less equity than owners in higher-valued homes, driven primarily by levels of
down payments," added Humphries.
Owners of Lower- to Mid-Range Homes Typically Own Less Home
As previously reported, homeowners who purchased in 2007 placed a median
down payment of 10 percent and own 9 percent of their investment while
30.4 percent have negative equity. By comparison, owners in the Bottom
quintile have median owner equity of 3 percent after placing a median down
payment of 3.2 percent leaving 43 percent with negative equity. Owners in the
Top quintile have median owner equity of more than 20 percent after placing
20 percent down and 16.9 percent have negative equity. Owner Equity and
Negative Owner equity for Homeowners who Purchased in 2007
Current
Median Down % with Current
Payment Negative Owner
Value Band(2) Value Range (2007) Equity Equity

National Zindex = 224,890 10.0% 30.4% 9.0%
Bottom < $140,999 3.2% 42.8% 3.0%
Lower
Middle $141,000 - $211,999 5.0% 41.9% 3.2%
Middle $212,000 - $300,499 5.9% 36.0% 6.2%
Upper
Middle $300,500 - $460,499 10.0% 27.4% 11.9%
Top > $460,500 20.0% 16.9% 20.2%

How to find out more?
Find home equity and appreciation data across home value bands by visiting
http://www.zillow.com/Quarterlies/quarterlyreports.htm.
About Zillow.com
Zillow.com is an online real estate community where homeowners, buyers,
sellers, and real estate agents and professionals find and share vital
information about homes, for free. Launched in early 2006 with Zestimate(R)
values and data on millions of U.S. homes, Zillow has since opened the site to
community input, data and dialogue, including "Home Q&A." Zillow's goal is to
help people become smarter about real estate -- what homes are worth, what's
for sale, and what local experts have to say about real estate and individual
homes. One of the most-visited real estate Web sites, Zillow was the only
Internet company named by Advertising Age magazine to its 2006 "Marketing 50"
list of the most powerful consumer brands. Zillow is headquartered in Seattle
and has raised $87 million in funding.
Zillow.com, Zillow, Zestimate and Zindex are registered trademarks of
Zillow, Inc.
(1) Each value band for the U.S. and major markets represents 20 percent
of the number of homes within each given market
(2) The Zindex is the median home value for a given area. Exactly half
the home values are above the Zindex and half are below

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20060503/ZILLOWLOGO)

SOURCE Zillow.com

Amanda Hoffman of Zillow.com, +1-206-470-7167, press@zillow.com