A new survey of homeowner confidence shows many Americans may be out-of-touch with reality.

Some 72 percent of homeowners recently surveyed believe their home’s value has gone up or stayed the same in the past year, according to Zillow.com.

But in reality, 75 percent of homes nationwide declined in value in the past year, the real estate Web site reported. Nearly 1,600 adults were surveyed by Harris Interactive for the Zillow study.

Home values in the first quarter 2008 were also down 7.7 percent from the same period a year ago — the largest year-over-year decline in more than a decade, according to Zillow.

“While we assume there’s a fair bit of owner denial reflected in these results, we also believe a large portion of the population simply isn’t paying close attention to their housing market because they’re not currently looking to sell or refinance,” said Stan Humphries, Zillow’s vice president of data and analytics.

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