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Appraisers and Homeowners Disagree

Quicken Loans’ Home Price Perception Index (HPPI) for February released on Tuesday shows that appraisers and homeowners are not entirely in agreement. Home appraisals were an average of 1.69 percent lower than what homeowners expected, a gap that has widened for the third month in a row. Additionally, Quicken Loans’ National Home Value Index (HVI) measured appraisal and found that values rose 0.55 percent in February, and 2.95 percent year-over-year.

“Quicken Loans is in a unique position, with access to two valuable data points. Homeowners tell us what they think their home is worth at the beginning of the mortgage process, then we compare that with the appraiser’s opinion of value,” said Quicken Loans VP of Capital Markets, Bill Banfield. “We hope consumers will take advantage of this information, seeing how their neighbors are perceiving their housing market, so they can better understand their own home’s value.”

Though the national HPPI shows lower values than consumer expectations, some metro areas experience appraisals higher than homeowners expected.  These are primarily western cities including Denver, Portland, Seattle, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. Denver’s HPPI showed that appraisals were almost 3 percent higher on average than homeowner expectation. Other metros saw their HPPI reflect the national level. Cleveland’s HPPI was over 2 percent lower than consumer expectation.

The National HVI’s growth of 0.55 percent from January to February was modest in comparison to the year-over-year increase of 2.95 percent from February 2016. Regionally, western areas saw a 4.45 percent increase on average in home values. Meanwhile in the Midwest, home prices increased by just 0.45 percent.

“Low levels of home inventory persists as the main driver of home value growth,” said Banfield. “There are still plenty of interested buyers vying for a slim amount of homes for sale–pushing prices higher. Home values are likely to move higher in the Midwest as the spring buying season approaches, unless the number of homes available increases.”

Read the report from Quicken Loans here.

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