Quicken Loans Study: Less Than Half a Percent Difference Between Owner and Appraiser Opinions of Home Values

DETROIT, Jan. 8, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The year ended with owner and appraiser perceptions of home values slightly moving in different directions, although the difference remains less than half a percent nationally. Appraisal values were an average of 0.45 percent lower than homeowners expected in December, according to the National Quicken Loans Home Price Perception Index (HPPI). This is compared to November, when there was just a 0.36 difference between the two data points.

Despite the dip in perception, appraisal values themselves rose in December at a faster pace than they did in November. The National Quicken Loans Home Value Index (HVI) reported a 0.79 percent monthly increase in the average appraisal value. The national index also showed the average appraisal jumped 5.15 percent year-over-year.

Home Price Perception Index (HPPI)

The HPPI - Quicken Loans' exclusive measure of homeowners' opinion of home values - continued to show a small difference between owners' and appraisers' opinions on a national level, but the appraisals in the vast majority of metro areas were higher than the owner expected in December. Homeowners in Boston, for example, saw appraisals coming back an average of 2.98 percent higher than what the homeowners expected. Based on the area's median home value, that is an average of about $15,000 in extra equity the owners don't realize they had.

"Many consumers don't think about their home's value until they start thinking about selling it. They may not be watching their local housing market as closely as appraisers who are reviewing home sales every day – leading the owners to incorrectly estimate their home's value," said Bill Banfield, Quicken Loans Executive Vice President of Capital Markets. "The fact of the matter is that the there are many ways a homeowner can make their equity can work for them if they have a realistic estimate of their home's value. Tapping into home equity to consolidate high-interest debt, or make home improvements are very popular options right now."

Home Value Index (HVI)

The Quicken Loans HVI, the only measure of home value change based exclusively on appraisal data, reported increasingly rising appraisal values across the country. The National HVI showed that home values rose steadily from November to December, increasing 0.79 percent. The annual growth is even stronger, with the average appraisal rising 5.15 percent over last year's level. Another sign of the housing market's health is that all four regions measured by the study reported modest growth on both the monthly and annual measures. The appraisal values ranged from 4.41 percent annual growth in the Northeast to a 5.98 percent year-over-year increase in the West.

"Any consumer who has read recent news about the housing market and has the impression that it is slowing to a halt should see that the HVI proves that this could not be farther from the truth," said Banfield. "Home value growth is now at a more normal, sustainable clip – keeping pace with inflation and wage growth more than we have seen in the past few years."

About the HPPI & HVI

The Quicken Loans HPPI represents the difference between appraisers' and homeowners' opinions of home values. The index compares the estimate that the homeowner supplies on a refinance mortgage application to the appraisal that is performed later in the mortgage process. This is an unprecedented report that gives a never-before-seen analysis of how homeowners are viewing the housing market. The HPPI national composite is determined by analyzing appraisal and homeowner estimates throughout the entire country, including data points from both inside and outside the metro areas specifically called out in the above report.

The Quicken Loans HVI is the only view of home value trends based solely on appraisal data from home purchases and mortgage refinances. This produces a wide data set and is focused on appraisals, one of the most important pieces of information to the mortgage process.

The HPPI and HVI are released on the second Tuesday of every month. Both of the reports are created with Quicken Loans' propriety mortgage data from the 50-state lenders' mortgage activity across all 3,000+ counties. The indexes are examined nationally, in four geographic regions and the HPPI is reported for 27 major metropolitan areas. All indexes, along with downloadable tables and graphs can be found at QuickenLoans.com/Indexes.

About Quicken Loans

Detroit-based Quicken Loans Inc. is the nation's largest home mortgage lender. The company closed nearly half a trillion dollars of mortgage volume across all 50 states from 2013 through 2018. Quicken Loans moved its headquarters to downtown Detroit in 2010. Today, Quicken Loans and its Family of Companies employ more than 17,000 full-time team members in Detroit's urban core. The company generates loan production from web centers located in Detroit, Cleveland and Phoenix. Quicken Loans also operates a centralized loan processing facility in Detroit, as well as its San Diego-based One Reverse Mortgage unit. Quicken Loans ranked highest in the country for customer satisfaction for primary mortgage origination by J.D. Power for the past nine consecutive years, 2010 – 2018, and also ranked highest in the country for customer satisfaction among all mortgage servicers the past five consecutive years, 2014 – 2018.

Quicken Loans was once again named to FORTUNE magazine's "100 Best Companies to Work For" list in 2018 and has been included in the magazine's top 1/3rd of companies named to the list for the past 15 consecutive years. In addition, Essence Magazine named Quicken Loans "#1 Place to Work in the Country for African Americans."

For more information and company news visit QuickenLoans.com/press-room.

SOURCE Quicken Loans

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