Debt outpaces home value for one-third of new owners!
Almost one-third of U.S. homeowners who bought in the last five years now owe more on their mortgages than their properties are worth, according to Zillow.com, an Internet provider of home valuations.
Home prices fell 9.9 per cent in the second quarter from a year earlier, giving 29 per cent of owners negative equity, said Zillow, the Seattle-based service that offers values for more than 80 million homes. For those who bought at the 2006 peak of the housing market, 45 per cent are now under water, Zillow said.
Negative equity and declining prices contribute to the foreclosure rate because some homeowners don’t have the cash to pay off the mortgage and end up surrendering their homes to the bank that holds the loan, said Stan Humphries, Zillow’s vice-president of data and analytics.