S. Fla. home value losses top $45B in 2009

South Florida ranks among the five markets in the country with the biggest home value losses – down $45.9 billion in 2009, according to the latest statistics from Zillow.

Still, that’s better than the $137.2 billion in value lost in 2008.

The improvement also is reflected on the national level, where U.S. homes lost $489 billion in value during the first 11 months of the year, significantly less than the $3.6 trillion that was lost in 2008.

Forty-eight of the 154 markets tracked by Zillow showed gains in home values this year, with the Boston metropolitan statistical area showing the largest gain, at $23.3 billion. The Providence, R.I., MSA was second, with a $12.4 billion gain.

Fewer single-family homeowners also were underwater in the third quarter – 21 percent, down from 23 percent in the second quarter, according to Zillow.

“Most housing markets across the country had a good summer, spurred largely by the government’s tax credits for homebuyers combined with very low mortgage rates,” said Stan Humphries, Zillow’s chief economist, in a news release.

However, he noted that demand is expected to drop as mortgage rates creep back up, and the number of foreclosures remains high.

On Tuesday, Condo Vultures reported that there were 7,000 foreclosures last month in the tri-county area.