Thursday, July 19, 2012

Good News on Homes: Negative Equity Declining


The below was sent to me by Donald M. Miller with W.J. Bradley Mortgage Capital, LLC regarding the housing marketing. These new stats are definitely a positive sign of hopefully things to come.

According to a new report by Core logic, 11.4 million (or 23.7%) of all U.S. mortgaged residential properties are in “Negative Equity” (when a borrower owes more on their mortgage than their property is worth). 
These figures are down from 25.2% in Q4, 2011. The Negative Equity share is at its lowest in nearly three years. 

Here are some details from the report. This is good news, slight as it may be, but good news! 
  • Negative Equity declined to $691 billion in Q1, 2012, down from $742 billion in Q4, 2011. 
  • More than 700,000 households returned to positive equity in Q1, 2012. 
  • 2.3 million borrowers had less than 5% equity, i.e. near Negative Equity in the Q1, 2012. 
  • Negative Equity and near Negative Equity mortgages accounted for 28.5% of all residential properties in Q1, 2012. This is down from 30.1% in Q4, 2011. 
  • Nevada had the highest Negative Equity percentage with 61% of all mortgaged properties underwater.

Decline in home values or an increase in mortgage debt is the cause of increase in Negative Equity. Negative Equity improved, in large part, due to improvements in home price levels. Additionally, sell through of existing inventory is fast and furious as we enter mid-summer. 

No comments:

Post a Comment