One in 10 homeowners in the Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford region remain “underwater” on their mortgages, meaning they owe more on their dwellings than they are worth, a fresh analysis shows.
At the close of 2015, 30,436, or 10.4 percent of mortgaged homes in the three communities sampled, had negative equity, according to Irvine, Calif., mortgage-data analyst CoreLogic. That compares to 30,462 properties in the trio, or 10.5 percent, with negative equity at end of 2014.
Those were counter to the one million U.S. borrowers who regained equity in their dwellings in 2015, raising the total of mortgaged residential properties with equity in last year’s fourth quarter to 46.3 million, or 91.5 percent of all mortgaged properties, CoreLogic said Thursday.
CoreLogic said it found that approximately 120,000 U.S. properties lost equity in the fourth quarter vs. the third quarter.
Negative equity, often referred to as “underwater” or “upside down,” applies to borrowers who owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth. Negative equity can occur because of a decline in home value, an increase in mortgage debt or a combination of both.
“The number of homeowners with more than 20 percent equity is rising rapidly,” said CoreLogic President/CEO Anand Nallathambi. “Higher prices driven largely by tight supply are certainly a big reason for the rise, but continued population growth, household formation and ultralow interest rates are also factors. Looking ahead in 2016, we expect home equity levels to continue to build, which is a good thing for the long-term health of the U.S. economy.”
Of the selected 10 metropolitan areas, Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall, Fla., had the highest percentage of mortgaged properties in negative equity at 22 percent, followed by Las Vegas-Henderson-Paradise, Nev. (21.3 percent); Chicago-Naperville-Arlington Heights, Ill. (16.7 percent), Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-Va.-Md.-W. Va. (11 percent) and Boston, (6.3 percent).
Of the same 10 metropolitan areas, San Francisco-Redwood City-South San Francisco, Calif., had the highest percentage of mortgaged properties in a positive equity position at 99.3 percent, followed by Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, Texas (98.1 percent), Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, Colo. (98 percent), Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale, Calif., (95.5 percent) and New York-Jersey City-White Plains, N.Y.-N.J. (93.8 percent).
