October Marks 12 Months of Home Value Increases

October marks the 12th consecutive month of monthly home value increases, according to ""Zillow"":http://www.zillow.com/, which reported a 1.1 percent increase over the month.

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Home values were up even higher on an annual basis, climbing 4.7 percent over the year and representing the greatest increase since September 2006.

Home values now stand at $155,400, according to Zillow.

""Those dubious about the durability of the housing recovery will point to the large role that investors are playing in the recovery, or to the large number of foreclosures yet to hit the market, as factors to be wary of,"" said Stan Humphries, chief economist at Zillow.

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""But the bottom line is that homes are more affordable now than at any time in recent memory, and buyers are seizing this opportunity,"" he continued.

Chicago was the only one of the 30 largest metro areas Zillow measures to experience a monthly decline in home values in October.

On an annual basis, four of the 30 metros experienced value declines.

The metros measuring the highest annual value increases in October include Phoenix (22.3 percent), San Jose, California (11.4 percent), Denver (10.4 percent), San Francisco (9.5 percent), and Miami-Ft. Lauderdale (8.8 percent).

Zillow reported another positive sign for the housing market: decreasing foreclosures. Foreclosures declined 0.8 percent in October, and the annual decrease was even greater--1.9 percent.

In October, 5.57 out of every 10,000 homes were in some stage of foreclosure.

Looking forward, Zillow anticipates ""increasing numbers of potential buyers entering the market as the broader economy continues to recover and household formation picks up further.""

""We're hopeful that negotiations over the ‘fiscal cliff' don't derail this momentum,"" Humphries said.