Nevada, Florida, Arizona claim the most ‘underwater mortgages’ in the U.S.

Of nearly 46.3 mln mortgaged residential properties in the United States at the end of the third quarter of 2015, approximately 4.1 mln (10.4%) had a mortgage amount greater than the value of the property. The percentage of underwater or negative equity properties at the end of the third quarter was lower than the total at the end of the second quarter (5.4 mln and 10.9%).

Some 17.6% (or 8.9 mln) of all mortgaged properties have positive equity of less than 20%, and 2.2% had less than 5% positive equity at the end of the third quarter. These levels are slightly lower than at the end of the second quarter of 2015, when 17.8% of all properties had positive equity below 20% and 2.3% had less than 5% positive equity.

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negative equity fell by $8.1 bln in the third quarter to a nationwide total of $301 bln. At the end of the second quarter, the aggregate value of underwater property totaled $309.1 bln. The data were released by research firm CoreLogic.

CoreLogic’s chief economist noted that “home price growth continued to lift borrower equity positions and increase the number of borrowers with sufficient equity to participate in the mortgage market. In Q3 2015 there were 37.5 mln borrowers with a least 20% equity, up 7% from 35 mln in Q3 2014. In the last three years, borrowers with at least 20% equity have increased by 11 mln, a substantial uptick that is driving rapid growth in home equity originations.”

The five states with the highest percentage of homes with negative equity were Nevada (19.0%), Florida (17.8%), Arizona (14.6%), Rhode Island (12.3%) and Maryland (12.1%). These five accounted for 29.3% of all U.S. underwater mortgages quarter of 2015.

The five states with the highest percentages of homes with positive equity were Texas (97.9%), Alaska (97.7%), Hawaii (97.6%), Colorado (97.2%) and Montana (97.1%).

The five metropolitan areas with the highest percentage of properties with negative equity were Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Fla. (19.6%), Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, Ariz. (14.2%), Chicago-Naperville-Arlington Heights, Ill. (13.8%), Riverside-San BernardinoOntario, Calif. (11.3%) and Washington, DC-Arlington-Alexandria, Va. (10.8%).

The five metro areas with the highest percentage in positive equity were Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, Texas (98.2%), PortlandVancouver-Hillsboro, Ore. (98.1%), Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, Colo. (98.0%), Dallas-Plano-Irving, Texas (97.9%) and Seattle-Bellevue-Everett, Wash. (97.7%). (Source: 24/7 Wall St.com)

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