Los Angeles Home Values Drop $60.8 billion

In the first 11 months of 2009, homeowners in Los Angeles lost $60 billion in property value, the most seen in any metro region across the country.

Homeowners in Los Angeles are probably reeling from the latest reports out today that throughout the first 11 months of 2009, they have lost $60.8 billion in property value, surpassing losses in any other metro region in the entire United States.

But don’t grab the tissues just yet Angelinos, there is a high note to this low blow. The reported $60.8 billion loss is practically loose change compared to the incredible $345.8 billion loss in home value in Los Angeles through 2008. Silver lining, I suppose. Zillow.com, an online real estate company’s chief economist, Stan Humphries, notes that while Los Angeles’ 2009 loss has surpassed other major cities, “home prices have actually stabilized over the last six months and the market appears to be bottoming.”

So Los Angeles homeowners are dealing with a $60.8 billion loss, how are the other cities doing so far this year? Chicago area homes lost $49.6 billion through November, New York area homes lost $49 billion, and Miami-Fort Lauderdale homes lost $45.9 billion. But the real pin in Los Angeles’ side is Boston, which actually gained $23.3 billion in 2009 through November. Providence, Rhode Island also faired    quite well, with a gain of $12.4 billion, according to Zillow.

Humphries notes, “L.A. has had a very strong stabilization in home prices in the past six month, which is very encouraging. It’s encouraging because you have a lot of metros that were similarly positioned to L.A. that have not seen that type of stabilization.” The glass is half full Angelinos, don’t forget it.

To put it all into perspective, in 2008, nationally home values dropped $3.6 trillion (with a “t”) in the first 11 months of the year, while in 2009 they “only” dropped $489 billion.

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