Home Prices Decline in Fourth Quarter

Seattle, WA, Feb. 9, 2011 -- Home prices fell 2.6% nationwide during the last three months of 2010, according to a quarterly real estate market survey from Zillow.com.

Now 27% of homeowners with mortgages owe more than their homes are worth, up from 23.2% a quarter earlier and is likely to lead to higher foreclosure rates, according to Zillow's chief economist, Stan Humphries.

Zillow also said that more than one-third of all homes were sold at a loss in December, a six-month trend.

Statistics from Moody's Analytics show that housing affordability at the end of September had returned to levels reached between 1989-2003, before the housing boom began.