Tag Archives: Negative Equity

Negative equity is down to 13.1 percent nationwide, but is still a nagging problem choking real growth and limiting new inventory, according to a new report by Zillow.

According to Zillow's Negative Equity Report, nearly one million homeowners were able to come out of negative equity in the third quarter, allowing them to sell or refinance their homes prior to the expected interest rate hike later this month.

Florida and the Midwest have some markets with more than a quarter of mortgaged homes underwater. Home values rose 5.9 percent nationally last year, making low-end homes far more likely to be worth less than the balance of their mortgage. While the percentage of mortgages that are in negative equity nationally is at 16.9 percent as of the fourth quarter of 2014, the negative equity rate among low end homes is much higher at 27.3 percent. The national negative equity rate is expected to fall to 15.4 percent by the end of 2015.

While rising home values have pushed down the share of underwater mortgages, the sheer number of upside-down borrowers remains massive—nearing four million—according to an update from Black Knight Financial Services. Those four million underwater homeowners combined for about $157 billion in negative equity in October.

RealtyTrac reported that 8.1 million U.S. homeowners, representing 15 percent of all mortgages in the country, were seriously underwater on their mortgage in Q3, the lowest percentage of underwater mortgages nationwide since RealtyTrac began tracking the data in Q1 2012.

According to Zillow's latest Negative Equity Report, high negative equity among Gen-X homeowners is causing gridlock in the U.S. housing market. Nearly 43 percent of homeowners between 35 and 49 are underwater on their mortgages. In contrast, only 15 percent of millennial homeowners (those between 20 and 34 years old) and 31 percent of baby boomers (50 to 64 years old) are underwater.

Based on mortgage performance data as of the end of April, Black Knight Financial Services noted there are approximately 2 million modified mortgages are due for mortgage rate resets in the coming years. With the economic recovery still hobbling along, the company estimates more than 40 percent of that group remain underwater.

The company released Tuesday its Negative Equity Report for the first quarter, revealing an estimated 9.7 million homeowners continue to owe more on their mortgage than their home is worth. While the continuing downward trend in underwater rates is a welcome sign of improvement in the housing sector, the company notes that the "effective" negative equity rate remains elevated at more than one in three.