Quicken Loans, the nation’s second-largest retail mortgage lender, reported Jan. 13 that its Home Price Perception Index (HPPI) shows the gap between home value opinions of homeowners and appraisers is continuing to narrow, with appraisers’ opinions of value 1.43 percent higher than homeowners’, when viewing the national composite. This shows that the gap between the two estimates is narrowing compared with November 2014, when appraisers valued homes 1.56 percent higher than homeowners’ estimates. The values also are closer together than they were a year ago, when the difference was 1.72 percent in December 2013. This is the sixth consecutive month home value opinions have moved closer together, with the gap narrowing each month since July 2014.

Appraisers in more than 77 percent of the metro areas examined by Quicken Loans still have higher opinions of home values than owners do, although the gap widened in 55 percent of the metro areas. The areas where the two opinions are closest together are Baltimore, with appraiser values 0.46 percent higher than owner estimates and Chicago, where appraised values are 0.14 percent lower than homeowner opinions.

“As a national mortgage lender, it is always encouraging to see more Americans understanding the housing market,” Quicken Loans Chief Economist Bob Walters said. “From the HPPI, it is clear that homeowners are more aware of the state of the home values in their neighborhood, as homeowner estimates and appraiser opinions continue to approach equilibrium. A part of this awareness is due to the relative stabilization in prices we’ve seen in the last few months; it will be interesting to see if perceptions remain close if we see more dramatic shifts in home values in 2015.”

The Home Value Index (HVI), which is a measure of home value changes based exclusively on data acquired from tens of thousands of appraisals, showed that home values posted a slight decrease from November to December 2014, falling 0.74 percent, according to the national composite. This is the first monthly decrease in 10 months. However, home values increased 2.26 percent in December when compared with December 2013.

The four geographic regions the HVI examines mirror the national trend. All four regions had monthly decreases of 1 percent and yearly increases, ranging from 1.52 percent in the West to 4.0 percent in the South.

“There should not be much emphasis put on the fact that values have fallen slightly over any one-month period of time; in a healthy economy, it is common to see some volatility in month-over-month numbers,” Walters said. “We will keep a close eye on the annual home value change. While some argue that these declines are merely a correction to previously over-inflated home values, if the trend continues, it could be bumpy for homeowners.”