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Housing

Cities With the Most (and Least) Underwater Mortgages

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By Paul Ausick Updated Published
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San Francisco

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The number of U.S. homes with underwater mortgages (i.e., the amount owed on the mortgage is greater than the market value of the home, often called negative equity) has been falling for about two years now. But about one in six U.S. homeowners is still underwater, according to research from Zillow, for a total of 8.7 million at the end of the second quarter of 2014. A year ago the percentage of underwater mortgages was 23.8%.

Zillow also calculated an “effective” negative equity rate of 34.8%, which includes homeowners who have less than 20% equity in their homes. The “effective” rate is down from 36.9% a year ago.

Of the 35 largest U.S. metropolitan areas, the following had the highest negative equity rates at the end of the second quarter:

  1. Atlanta, 28.9%
  2. Las Vegas, 27.4%
  3. Chicago, 27.1%
  4. Orlando, 24.9%
  5. Tampa, 23.7%
  6. Detroit, 23.2%

Those with the lowest rates were:

  1. San Jose, 4.6%
  2. San Francisco, 8.2%
  3. Austin, 8.3%
  4. Houston, 8.4%
  5. Los Angeles, 9.3%

Based on mortgage-holders ages, some 19.6% of Gen-X (ages 20 to 34) homeowners are underwater, compared with 18.7% of those ages 35 to 49 and 10.9% of those between the ages of 50 and 64.

ALSO READ: Detroit’s Housing Market Has Never Recovered

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About the Author Paul Ausick →

Paul Ausick has been writing for 247Wallst.com for more than a decade. He has written extensively on investing in the energy, defense, and technology sectors. In a previous life, he wrote technical documentation and managed a marketing communications group in Silicon Valley.

He has a bachelor's degree in English from the University of Chicago and now lives in Montana, where he fishes for trout in the summer and stays inside during the winter.

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