Zillow, the real estate home price research company, says that the value of residential real estate ended its sickening drop in 2009. The firm’s chief economist writes, “Total home values in the United States fell $489 billion in the first 11 months of 2009. A large drop, to be sure, but it marks a significant improvement from 2008, when homes lost a total of $3.6 trillion in values.” Zillow says that residential real estate values actually rose in 48 of the 154 markets that it tracks.

Read more….