One of the mortgage debt-related problems many homeowners have faced in recent years is being underwater on a property. A person is underwater on a property when the value of the property the person has a mortgage on is less than the amount the person still owes on the mortgage. Being underwater on a property can have a variety of impacts on a homeowner.
Recently, an article on the Los Angeles Times’ website reported on some underwater property-related statistics. The statistics are from CoreLogic and they regard the number of properties that were underwater in the U.S. in the third quarter of 2011.
According to the statistics, around 10.7 million properties were underwater in the U.S. in 2011’s third quarter. This is a drop from the underwater property total the U.S. saw in 2011’s second quarter, which was 10.9 million. However, even with this drop, underwater properties still made up over 1/5 of all U.S. properties with mortgages in the third quarter of 2011. Thus, it appears that, despite the U.S. seeing a slight drop in underwater properties, the problem of being underwater on a property remains fairly prevalent in the United States.
The statistics also indicate that Florida is one of the states where the problem of being underwater on a property is particularly prevalent. Reportedly, 44 percent of properties with mortgages in Florida were underwater in 2011’s third quarter. This was significantly higher than the national rate and was the third highest rate among all states.
Thus, the statistics appear to indicate that while the number of underwater properties went down a little in the U.S. in the third quarter, the problem of being underwater on a property is one that many homeowners in Florida and the rest of the U.S. are still experiencing.
Source: The Los Angeles Times, “One in five American homes ‘underwater’,” Nov. 29, 2011
