Zillow Real Estate Market Reports for Q2

Real estate powerhouse Zillow came out with their Q2 housing market report . Out of 161 MSAs (Metro Statistical Areas) they found the following;

*Home Values fell 12.1 percent year over year

*Foreclosures comprised in June 22 percent of all sales (it was noted in another one of my posts that Athens had a recent foreclosure percentage of only 10.5 percent of sales)

*Negative Equity; 23 percent of sellers lost money and had to bring a check to closing or their lender agreed to a short sale

*Home Sales off 23.7 percent in June

Now with this said, if you live in our "Classic City," was Athens, GA even reported on in this market report that will get big news today in the press? For that matter, is Athens, GA counted in the Case-Shiller market report? You know the one that has been reported on constantly and has become the harbinger of doom for the so-called "national" real estate market.

The answer is an emphatic "No." Our small hamlet, and yes I used the word hamlet, in northeast Georgia is not counted in these composite rankings.

In Athens, according to Zillow's Home Value Index (not a part of the Zillow Market Report for Q2), our market was up 11.3 percent in the past year! When you hear gloom and doom from the composite indexes from Zillow, Case-Shiller, OFHEO, or the NAR, make sure your market is included in the mix. A loss to the index does not guarantee a loss to your individual market just because the composite lost value. I know, I know that 11.3 percent increase is hard to buy for most of you, so I included the link.

Look at the S&P 500 stock index for example. Just because the index loses value in given year, it doesn't mean all 500 stocks lost value. Now if my stock were "not even in the S&P 500," I wouldn't care what the S&P 500 index did because it definitely doesn't impact me.

This report from Zillow or the next one from Case-Shiller might not impact you!