The relentless slide in home prices has left more than 8.3 million, or one in five homeowners, in the U.S. “underwater” – the technical term for negative equity.
From WSJ: Real-estate Web site Zillow.com said that overall, the number of borrowers who are underwater climbed to 26.9 million at the end of the first quarter from 16.3 million at the end of the fourth quarter. The latest figure represents 28.9% of all homeowners, according to Zillow, up from 17.6% in the fourth quarter and 14.3% in the third quarter.
…
Moody’s Economy.com estimates that of 78.2 million owner-occupied single-family homes, 14.8 million borrowers, or 19%, owed more than their homes were worth at the end of the first quarter, up from 13.6 million at the end of last year.
From WSJI wouldn’t be surprise if the report on the growing problem of negative equity is a conservative estimate.
Image: WSJ
Leave a Reply