Almost one in five homeowners in the two-county region owe at least 25 percent more on their mortgages than their properties are worth, real estate researcher RealtyTrac said Wednesday. In the first quarter, the number was 19.9%.
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There were 29,821 Ohio properties with foreclosure filings from January through June, down 16 percent from the same period a year ago and 18 percent below the number for the six months ended in December 2014, according a separate RealtyTrac report.
Markets with the highest percentage of equity-rich properties during the second quarter included San Jose (43.8%), San Francisco (38.3%), Honolulu (36.7%), Los Angeles (32%) and New York (30.7%).
Roughly 19 percent of homes with mortgages were in that position in New Jersey in the second quarter of 2014, compared to about 17 percent nationwide, according to data released on Thursday by the Irvine, Calif.-based housing research firm. Metro Orlando’s inventory of houses on the market increased 2.3 percent in June from a year ago.
Unsurprisingly, homes bought during the housing boom – when mortgage standards loosened and home prices soared – account for a large share of all those seriously underwater.
Markets where the share of distressed properties – those in some stage of foreclosure – that were seriously underwater and exceeded 50 percent in the first quarter of 2015 included Las Vegas (57.7 percent); Lakeland, Fla. “Usually a decline of this magnitude would suggest an uptick in the number of homes for sale, but unfortunately for Seattle, I don’t see this taking place”.
“Many consumers in foreclosure don’t understand the positive effects of the increased equity we are seeing across the Ohio markets, and the opportunities that this might bring in assisting them to avoid foreclosure”, said Michael Mahon, president at HER Realtors, covering the Cincinnati, Dayton and Columbus markets.
Less than 4 percent of mortgaged properties in Middlesex County are seriously underwater, the smallest share in the state, according to the report. Those numbers placed Las Vegas third in the nation behind Cleveland (28.2 percent) and Lakeland., Fla., (28.5 percent).
“The strong South Florida price increases over the past few years have moved many homeowners from negative to positive equity”. The peak was 37 percent in the second quarter of 2013.
In addition, underwater homeowners who struggle to pay their mortgages can’t simply solve their problems by selling the home.
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Eight ZIP codes on Chicago’s South and West Sides have underwater rates above 50 percent – more than three times the rate for the Gold Coast area.
