Percent of homes underwater on their mortgages

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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.

1H-2009 saw 1.5 million homes start the foreclosure process

According to CNN, during the first half of 2009 1.5 million homes began the trek down the foreclosure process---representing 1 in every 89 households.

CNN which used data provided by realtyTrac broke down the data to show the 10 states where the most mortgage foreclosure activity is taking place. Here's the data:

1. Nevada 1 in every 16 houses in foreclosure
2. Arizona 1 in every 30
3. Florida 1 in every 33
4. California 1 in 34 houses
5. Utah 1 in 69
6. Georgia 1 in 70
7. Michigan 1 in 74
8. Illinois 1 in 76
9. Idaho 1 in 79
10. Colorado 1 in 80
11. Ohio 1 in every 86

Nevada leads the nation in the highest rate of houses in foreclosure

Realtytrac.com today issued a report that included data on the percentage of housing units in foreclosure. Overall, the United States has 1.84% of home mortgages in foreclosure---That is up 81% from 2007.

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The Top-10 worst states for foreclosure rates are:

1. Nevada--7.3%
2. Florida--4.5%
3. Arizona--4.5%
4. California--4.0%
5. Colorado--2.4%
6. Michigan--2.4%
7. Ohio--2.3%
8. Georgia--2.2%
9. Illinois--1.9%
10. New Jersey--1.8%