U.S. homes on track to lose $2 trillion

SEATTLE, Dec. 15 (UPI) -- The value of U.S. homes is on target to fall by $2 trillion in 2008, a private research group said.

The most recent Zillow Real Estate Market Report said home values fell 8.4 percent from a year ago by the end of the third quarter.

At the end of the quarter, U.S. homes had already lost $1.9 trillion in value, the report said.

At that point, one in seven homeowners were "underwater," with a total of 11.7 million owing more on their mortgages than their homes were worth, Zillow.com reported.

"This year marked the acceleration of the market correction," Zillow vice president of data and analytics Stan Humphries said. The year "is likely to end with the eighth consecutive quarter of declines in home values."

Of the 163 metropolitan areas covered in the report, 30 made gains in the Zillow Home Value Index.

Homes in the Jacksonville, N.C., area gained 4.9 percent in value. Winston-Salem, N.C., and Anderson, S.C., also fared well, homes values gaining 4.1 percent and 3.5 percent, respectively.

The steepest declines were in Stockton, Calif., and Merced, Calif., where home values fell 32.3 percent and 31.2 percent, respectively, the report said.