Owners Think Their Home Value is Up

Half of Owners Think Their Home Value is Up

The confidence of U.S. home owners in the value of their homes increased in the first quarter, online home site Zillow says based on a survey it conducted.

About 50 percent of home owners surveyed by the Web site think their home's value declined in the past year, according to Zillow.com’s first quarter survey of home owner confidence. In contrast, Zillow thinks that 65 percent of U.S. homes actually declined in value based on its own calculations of value.

To the extent home owners are overconfident about the value of their home, Zillow says, they could feel encouraged to put their home on the market. If a lot of them did so and their home values aren't as high as they think they are, it could have the effect of pushing down prices, says Zillow’s Chief Economist Stan Humphries.

In its survey, Zillow found that 7 percent of home owners – or 5.3 million homes if the survey results were applied to all home owners – would be “very likely” to put their homes on the market in the next 12 months if they believed the market was improving. An additional 8 percent in the Zillow survey said they would be likely to list their homes, while another 14 percent would be somewhat likely.

Source: Zillow.com (05/20/2010)