Area home values fall 6.4% to $209,126

Home prices

Richmond-area home values have fallen to $209,126 -- about where they were in late 2005, according to a report released yesterday by Zillow.

That represents a 6.4 percent decline in the first quarter from the same period a year ago. The value is a median, meaning half the houses are worth more and half less.

Some neighborhoods are holding their values better than others, the online real estate company reported.

Values in the Westhampton area in Richmond's West End, for example, fell 3.1 percent to $316,706 from a year ago. But if you live in Montpelier, your home could be worth 17.8 percent less than it was a year ago, or about $291,650.

Zillow tracks home values in 161 metropolitan areas, using sales data and other public records.

Nationwide, home values slid for the ninth consecutive quarter, falling 14.2 percent from a year ago and declining 21.8 percent since the peak in 2006.

Nearly 22 percent of all homeowners in the U.S. owe more than their house is worth, and one in five homes sold in the past 12 months was a foreclosure.

While values in all 60 neighborhoods in the Richmond region fell from a year ago, some areas showed price increases in the first three months from the last quarter in 2008. Notably, values in Glen Allen in western Henrico County ticked up, as they did in the Bellevue and Lakeside areas in North Richmond and the area near Regency Square Mall.

"It is true that there are pockets around town, where sales are up and doing better," said Don Atkinson, president of the Richmond Association of Realtors and general manager of Hometown Realty in Glen Allen.

The Realtors group reported the median sales price for the first quarter stood at $198,702, down 11 percent from the same period in 2008.

Contact Carol Hazard at (804) 775-8023 or .

Drop in home values