Home Values Down $1.7 Trillion This Year

Seattle, WA, Dec. 9, 2010 -- Home in the U.S. are expected to be worth $1.7 trillion less in 2010 than they were worth last year, according to real estate website Zillow.

Zillow's report shows that this year's decline in home values is 63% bigger than the $1 trillion fall in 2009, and brings the total value lost since the housing market's peak in 2006 to a $9 trillion.

Almost $700 billion in value was lost in the first half of the year, compared to Zillow's estimates of $1 trillion in the second half of 2010.

"It's a testament to the nearly irresistible force of the overall market correction that government incentives can only temporarily hold back the tide, and that the market will ultimately find its natural equilibrium of supply and demand," said Zillow Chief Economist Dr. Stan Humphries.

He added that with foreclosures near an all-time high, along with increasing negative equity, it's not likely the situation will improve much next year.