Although this nearly 2% decline is certainly not a bad sign, by any means, the real estate market still has a long recovery ahead of it. According to Stan Humphries, Chief Economist at Zillow.com "While fewer homeowners were underwater in the second quarter than the first, it is not yet time to break out the champagne bottle. While some of the downward pressure on negative equityis coming from stabilization in home value trends, the larger factor is the enormous volume of foreclosures occurring within the stock of homes in negative equity."