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| Daren Blomquist |
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 December 2013, which shows that
9.3 million U.S. residential properties were deeply underwater — where the
combined loan amount secured by the property is at least 25 percent higher than
the property’s estimated market value — representing 19 percent of all
properties with a mortgage in December.
That was down from 10.7 million residential properties
deeply underwater in September 2013, representing 23 percent of all properties
with a mortgage, and down from 10.9 million properties deeply underwater in
January 2013, representing 26 percent of all properties with a mortgage.
The recent peak in
negative equity was May 2012, when 12.8 million U.S. residential properties
were deeply underwater, representing 29 percent of all properties with a
mortgage.
“During the housing downturn we saw a downward spiral of
falling home prices resulting in rising negative equity, which in turn put
millions of homeowners at higher risk for foreclosure when they encountered a
trigger event such as job loss,” said Daren Blomquist, vice president at
RealtyTrac.
“Now we are seeing
the reverse trend: rising home prices resulting in falling negative equity,
which in turn is giving millions of homeowners a lifeline to avoid foreclosure
when they encounter a trigger event.
“On the other end of the spectrum, the percentage of
equity-rich homeowners is nearing a tipping point that should result in a
larger inventory of homes listed for sale and give the overall economy a nice
shot in the arm in 2014.”
For a complete copy of the company’s news release, please
contact:
Jennifer von Pohlmann
PR Manager
Office: 949.502.8300 ext 139
