Underwater-borrower numbers stabilizing
The number of people in Maryland who owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth appears to be stabilizing. So says CoreLogic -- the real estate information firm formally known as First American CoreLogic -- in its latest report on the country's underwater-borrower problem.
About 23 percent of borrowers in the state were upside down on their mortgages in March, same as in December, the company said this week. The share of folks who are close to underwater also remained steady at about 5 percent.
Maryland ranked ninth-highest in the country for its percentage of homeowners with negative equity, a slight improvement over the end of last year. (Idaho worsened, overtaking us and Virginia for seventh place.)
Like Maryland, the country's negative-equity situation remained essentially unchanged overall.
"As house prices grow again and borrowers pay down their mortgage debt negative equity levels will begin to diminish," Mark Fleming, CoreLogic's chief economist, said in a statement. "The typical underwater borrower is likely to regain their lost equity over the next five to seven years."
Maryland might be in the top 10 for negative equity, but it's a far cry from the underwater leaders. Here's the list:
1. Nevada -- 70 percent of borrowers underwater
2. Arizona -- 51 percent
3. Florida -- 48 percent
4. Michigan -- 39 percent
5. California -- 34 percent
6. Georgia -- 29 percent
7. Idaho -- 23.7 percent
8. Virginia -- 23.6 percent
9. Maryland -- 23 percent
10. Utah -- 21 percent
How does CoreLogic estimate negative equity? It tracks mortgages, including junior liens such as second mortgages, and adjusts them "for amortization and home equity utilization in order to capture the true level of mortgage debt outstanding for each property." It comes up with its own estimation of value as well.
Are you occasionally (or obsessively) tracking your property value vs. your debt owed? Or do you not want to know?
Categories: Mortgages, The foreclosure mess, Underwater
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