Apr 27

‘Underwater’ Homes Inch Up in First Quarter

‘Underwater’ Homes Inch Up in First Quarter

 

‘Underwater’ Homes Inch Up in First Quarter. Image courtesy of nattavut / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

‘Underwater’ Homes Inch Up in First Quarter. Image courtesy of nattavut / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

The share of seriously underwater home owners took a surprising turn in the first quarter of 2015, posting its first increase since 2012. However, the number of seriously underwater home owners is still down more than 4 percentage points compared to a year ago, according to RealtyTrac’s U.S. Home Equity & Underwater Report.

At the end of the first quarter of this year, 7.3 million properties – or 13.2 percent of all properties with a mortgage — were known as “seriously underwater.” A homeowner who is seriously underwater has a combined home loan amount that is at least 25 percent higher than the property’s estimated market value.

RealtyTrac reports that the percentage of borrowers in this situation rose by 0.4 percentage points in the first quarter of 2015, compared to the fourth quarter of 2014.

“At the end of 2014, we saw the lowest share of seriously underwater properties since we began tracking such data, but in the first quarter that share bumped up slightly as home price appreciation continued to slow down in many markets,” says Daren Blomquist, vice president at RealtyTrac. “In addition, the data indicates more owners who have regained equity listed and sold their homes in the first quarter, cashing out on some of the home equity on the table in the U.S. housing market.”

On the other hand, most of the seriously underwater home owners remain “stuck in their homes as short sales and other foreclosure alternatives lose momentum, tilting the national home equity scales back slightly toward a higher share of negative equity,” Blomquist explains.

The following markets had the highest percentage of seriously underwater properties in the first quarter of 2015:

  • Lakeland, Fla.: 28.7%
  • Las Vegas, Nev.: 28.4%
  • Cleveland, Ohio: 28.2%
  • Akron, Ohio: 27.2%
  • Orlando, Fla.: 26.1%
  • Tampa, Fla.: 25%
  • Chicago, Ill.: 24.7%
  • Palm Bay, Fla.: 24.5%
  • Jacksonville, Fla.: 24.3%

Source: “U.S. Home Equity & Underwater Report, First Quarter 2015,” RealtyTrac (April 23, 2015)

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