5 States Account for Nearly a Third of Underwater Mortgages

Of nearly 44.9 million mortgaged residential properties in the United States at the end of the first quarter of 2015, about 5.1 million had a mortgage amount greater than the value of the property. These underwater or negative equity properties represent 10.2% of all mortgaged properties in the country. At the end of the fourth quarter, 10.8% of all mortgaged properties were underwater.

The aggregate value of negative equity rose by $11.7 billion in the first quarter to a nationwide total of $337.4 billion. At the end of the fourth quarter, the aggregate value of underwater property totaled $349.1 billion. The data were released Tuesday by research firm CoreLogic.

Some 19.4% of all mortgaged properties have positive equity below 20%, and 2.7% had less than 5% positive equity at the end of the first quarter. These levels are slightly lower than at the end of the fourth quarter of 2014, when 20% of all properties had positive equity below 20% and 2.8% had less than 5% positive equity.

CoreLogic’s chief economist noted:

About 90 percent of homeowners now have housing equity and, as a result, have experienced an increase in wealth, which can spur additional consumption and investment expenditures. The remaining 10 percent of owners with negative equity will find their home value rising while they continue to pay down principal on their amortizing mortgage loan.

The five states with the highest percentage of homes with negative equity are Nevada (23.1%), Florida (21.2%), Illinois (16.8%), Arizona (16.8%) and Rhode Island (15.7%). These five states account for 31.4% of all underwater mortgages.

The five states with the highest percentages of homes with positive equity are Texas (97.7%), Hawaii (96.9%), Alaska (96.8%), Montana (96.8%) and North Dakota (96.2%).

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The five metropolitan areas with the highest percentage of properties with negative equity are Tampa-St. Pete-Clearwater, Fla. (23.1%), Chicago-Naperville-Arlington Heights, Ill. (19.1%), Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, Ariz. (16.9%), Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, Calif. (13.9%) and Warren-Troy-Farmington Hills, Mich. (13.4%).

The five metro areas with the highest percentage in positive equity are Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, Texas (97.9%), Dallas-Plano-Irving, Texas (97.6%), Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, Colo. (97.1%), Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, Ore. (97.0%) and Anaheim-Santa Ana-Irvine, Calif. (97.0%).