R.I. among top five states for ‘underwater’ mortgages

CORELOGIC SAID THAT Rhode Island was among the top five states for having the highest percentage of mortgaged properties in negative equity at 14.8 percent. / COURTESY CORELOGIC
CORELOGIC SAID THAT Rhode Island was among the top five states for having the highest percentage of mortgaged properties in negative equity at 14.8 percent. / COURTESY CORELOGIC

PROVIDENCE – Rhode Island ranked among the top five states for having the highest number of mortgaged properties in negative equity in the third quarter at 14.8 percent, according to data released Thursday by Corelogic.
Rhode Island was fourth on the list for having 34,521 mortgaged properties in negative equity, preceded by Nevada at 25.4 percent; Florida, 23.8 percent; and Arizona, 19 percent. Illinois was fifth at 14.1 percent. The five states account for 33.1 percent of negative equity in the United States.

In the Providence-Warwick-Fall River metro area, 13.6 percent, or 48,128, of all residential properties with a mortgage were in negative equity as of the third quarter, which is five-tenths of a percentage point lower than 14.1 percent, or 49,916 properties, in the second quarter.
Negative equity is often referred to as “underwater” or “upside down,” meaning borrowers owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth. It can be caused by a decline in value, an increase in mortgage debt, or both.
CoreLogic also said that nearly 273,000 U.S. homes returned to positive equity in the third quarter, bringing the total number of mortgaged residential properties with equity to approximately 44.6 million, or 90 percent of all mortgaged properties.
Nationwide, borrower equity increased year over year by approximately $800 billion in the third quarter. Approximately 5.1 million homes, or 10.3 percent of residential properties nationwide with a mortgage, were still in negative equity as of the third quarter compared with 13.3 percent, or 6.5 million homes, in the third quarter of 2013, representing a year-over-year decrease in the number of underwater homes by almost 1.5 million, or 3 percentage points on the total.
Texas had the highest percentage of mortgaged residential properties in an equity position at 97.4 percent, followed by Alaska, 97.1 percent; Montana, 97.1 percent; Hawaii, 96.4 percent and North Dakota, 96.1 percent.

No posts to display