Almost 18 percent of homes sold at a loss in 2008

Nearly one out of every six homes in the nation were sold at negative equity last year, online real estate marketplace Zillow.com reported Tuesday.

The organization also found in its survey of 161 metropolitan areas:

• home values declined 11.6 percent in 2008
• homeowners lost $3.3 trillion in home value, with $1.4 trillion gone in the fourth quarter alone

• one-fifth of all real estate transactions were foreclosures

St. Louis was included among the cities studied. Zillow reported the average price of a single family home in the city was $140,769, down 3.7 percent from 2007. More than 32 percent of St. Louis homes sold for less than their purchase price.