‘Seriously Underwater’ Home Mortgages Tick Up Across the US
Alex Tanzi
Wed, May 8, 2024, 11:01 PM CDT (Bloomberg) -- Roughly one in 37 homes are now considered seriously underwater in the US and that share is much higher across a swath of southern states, according to data out Thursday.
Nationally, 2.7% of homes carried loan balances at least 25% more than their market value in the first few months of the year. That’s up from 2.6% in the previous quarter, according to the first-quarter 2024 US Home Equity & Underwater Report from ATTOM, a real estate data firm.
While the share of these homes is ticking up, it remains much lower than before the pandemic, when the rate was more than twice as high.
Mortgages can generally become seriously underwater when someone overpays for a home, or when it is purchased with a small downpayment that doesn’t provide a sufficient buffer if the property falls in value.
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https://finance.yahoo.com/news/seriously-underwater-home-mortgages-tick-040100261.html
