Monday, December 13, 2010

Percent of homes underwater on their mortgages


Click on image for a bigger graph.

Calculated Riskhas published this nice little chart that shows which states have the greatest amounts of homeowners that have underwater mortgages.

Homes with negative equity are "underwater"; essentially it means the loan balance is greater than what the home is work. This is a problem, because it raises the risk of foreclosure and strategic walk-aways.

States such as Nevada, Arizona, Florida and California and Michigan have large amounts of homes that are underwater. Some states in the middle of the country--such as Oklahoma and North Dakota have the largest percentage of homes with positive owners' equity.