Most US homes worth less than before the crash

Washington

YOU can't blame a homeowner in Fresno, California, for viewing the thriving metropolis to its north-west with both envy and dismay. While San Francisco home values have surged since the recession, Fresno's housing market is stuck in a rut. Less than 3 per cent of homes in the city and its environs have returned to their pre-recession peak, according to a new study from Trulia. Median home values are a teeth-clenching US$78,000 below their pre-recession peak.

The difference between the two California markets helps explain a key dynamic of US housing a decade after the foreclosure crisis. Popular measures of the landscape, such as S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Index and the FHFA House Price Index, show the market has recovered to levels last seen before the housing market went bust. But according to Trulia, this isn't the whole, si…