Friday, October 24, 2014

RealtyTrac Reports 8.1 Million U.S. Residential Properties Seriously Under Water in Third Quarter Marking Lowest Level in Two Years


IRVINE, CA — RealtyTrac® (www.realtytrac.com), the nation’s leading source for comprehensive housing data, today released its U.S. Home Equity & Underwater Report for the third quarter of 2014, which shows that 8.1 million U.S. residential properties were seriously underwater — where the combined loan amount secured by the property is at least 25 percent higher than the property’s estimated market value — representing 15 percent of all properties with a mortgage and an estimated $1.4 trillion in negative equity.

“The decrease in underwater properties is promising but the estimated $1.4 trillion in negative equity means that the flood waters are not receding as quickly as they were before, corresponding to slowing home price appreciation,” said Daren Blomquist, vice president at RealtyTrac. “Slower price appreciation means the 8 million homeowners seriously underwater could still have a long road back to positive equity.

“We wanted to paint a picture of the typical seriously underwater homeowner and what we found was that homeowners who bought or refinanced during the housing bubble (2004 to 2008), own a home worth less than $200,000, live in the Sun Belt or Rust Belt and live in a Democratic Congressional District were more likely to be seriously underwater,” Blomquist noted.

“On the other end, the highest percentages of equity rich homeowners were those who bought or refinanced between 1994 and 1998, those with properties valued at $500,000 or more, live in NY, CA, DC and these folks also tend to live in Democratic Congressional districts.”
  
For a complete copy of the company’s news release, please contact:
  
Jennifer von Pohlmann
949.502.8300949.502.8300, ext. 139


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