I recently appraised a beautiful home in Carlsbad that had a value of approximately $1,750,000. As I analyzed the home values for the last 2 years, I found they the rate of decrease in value was much smaller than that of lower valued homes. Over the last two years, the homes in this area lost about 10% or so, while homes in low-valued areas of, say, Oceanside, lost about 25%-30% over the same period.
I researched other areas and found the same trends. Higher valued homes tended to hold value much better than lower valued homes. One can speculate that this is the case because at the peak of the market, when homes were probably over-valued, people could only get in to the lowest priced homes with risky, adjustable-rate loans and little to now documentation of income. One the other side of the coin, people who can afford the higher-end homes tend to be a bit more knowledgeable about finances and can more easily document income and get traditional 30 year fixed products.
When the adjustment came, the market was flooded with lower priced homes in foreclosure while the upper end homes remained unscathed.
Anyway, I'm just writing this in case you're wondering what YOUR home value is doing. If you're in a high-end area, you're in pretty good shape. If not, then you're probably seen a substantial drop in your equity.
If you have any questions or comments, feel free to drop me line at paulmcewen@cox.net and I'll get back to you right away. Thanks!!!