The states with the biggest mortgage crises?
Nevada has been the worst for a while, with Arizona running a strong but still distant second. Florida comes in third, but we’ve seen changing fortunes of the rest of the lead pack. With home values still falling markedly in metro Atlanta, look for Georgia to move clearly into fourth place, ahead of Michigan and California.
CoreLogic today released CORELOGIC® REPORTS NEGATIVE EQUITY INCREASE IN Q4 2011
From the press release:
CoreLogic (NYSE: CLGX), a leading provider of information, analytics and business services, today released negative equity data showing that 11.1 million, or 22.8 percent, of all residential properties with a mortgage were in negative equity at the end of the fourth quarter of 2011. This is up from 10.7 million properties, 22.1 percent, in the third quarter of 2011. An additional 2.5 million borrowers had less than five percent equity, referred to as near-negative equity, in the fourth quarter. Together, negative equity and near-negative equity mortgages accounted for 27.8 percent of all residential properties with a mortgage nationwide in the fourth quarter, up from 27.1 in the previous quarter.
Keep in mind, of course, that that 27.8% is for properties with mortgages; many residential properties do not have them.
Right now, Georgia has 33% of mortgaged properties underwater, slightly better than Michigan’s 35%, but when near negative equity is considered, Georgia moves ahead of Michigan. Check out the graph:
CoreLogic’s data indicates that Georgia even challenges Florida if we look for average loan to value ratios above or below 80%:
If it seems like the recession is persisting a lot longer in Georgia than in some other states, this data explains a lot.
Clearly, Georgia deserved a bigger piece of the recent mortgage settlement with five major banks.