Negative Equity Figures Improve in 2nd Quarter

From CAR newsline: Nearly one quarter (23 percent) of all residential properties with mortgages had negative equity at the end of the second quarter of 2010, down from 24 percent in the first quarter, according to CoreLogic.

Foreclosures, rather than price appreciation, were the primary factor in the change, according to the report. An additional 2.4 million borrowers had less than 5-percent equity. Together, negative equity and near-negative equity mortgages accounted for nearly 28 percent of all residential properties with a mortgage nationwide.
Negative equity remains concentrated in five states: Nevada, 68 percent; Arizona, 50 percent; Florida, 46 percent; Michigan, 38 percent; and California, 33 percent.
Homes with more equity are appreciating faster than underwater homes, the report found. The average values of properties with 50 percent or more equity increased more than 1 percent between Q4 2009 and Q2 2010. Properties with 25 to 50 percent in equity increased an average of 0.2 percent in that period.