Real-estate website on Monday said the number of metro-area homeowners who are “underwater” — or owe more than their homes are worth — is at an all-time high.
The website also reported that metro Denver home values fell 9.6 percent year over year and have fallen 17.2 percent since their peak in June 2006.
Some real-estate experts immediately questioned those numbers, particularly the price drop, which differs from commonly cited price data.
Two weeks ago, the Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller report, considered one of the most reliable measures of home-price movement, showed that metro Denver home values declined 2.6 percent from a year ago and were down 13.6 percent from their 2006 high.
It isn’t the first time Zillow data has come under fire.
Last spring, a Forbes report relying on Zillow data ranked Denver as the second-worst selling housing market in the country. The report claimed there were twice as many homes for sale in the region as were actually listed. Citing the discrepancy, Forbes said a few days later it would limit its use of Zillow data.
In 2009, local real-estate experts took issue with a Zillow report that said 32 percent of Denver homeowners were underwater with their mortgages. Critics noted that Zillow relied on public records that were largely out of date.
On Monday, Zillow said 41 percent of Denver homeowners now owe more than their homes are worth.
“I can’t take seriously (Zillow’s) work,” said Lou Barnes of Premier Mortgage Group in Boulder.
Barnes, author of Mortgage Credit News, said Zillow’s figures are neither survey- nor appraisal-based but based on assessment values. He called the 41 percent figure “unlikely.”
Other experts said the negative-equity number reflects real market trends and is at least “plausible.”
“On the surface, it seems a bit high,” said Jeff Thredgold, an economist for Vectra Bank Colorado. “But the 41 percent is probably as good a guess as any.”
