March 17--Fewer than 20 percent of Chicago-area homeowners with a mortgage at the end of 2014, were underwater, meaning they owed more on the loans than the value of the properties, according to data released Tuesday.
In December, 18.5 percent of Chicago area homes with a mortgage, or 253,224 properties, had negative equity, compared with 21.4 percent of homes at the end of 2013, housing data firm CoreLogic reported.
The data shows just how far the local housing market has come in two years. In December 2012, about one-third of Chicago-area homes with a mortgage had negative equity.
The fourth-quarter number was up from the third quarter's 16.6 percent but home values typically dip at year's end, affecting a homeowner's equity level, said CoreLogic chief economist Frank Nothaft.
The local housing market also kept its top 5 standing among metropolitan areas with the highest percentage of underwater homes. It was bested by Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Fla., where 24.8 percent of properties with a mortgage underwater, and Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, Ariz., with 18.8 percent. Also on that list were Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, Calif., and Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, Ga., which had 14.8 percent and 14.6 percent, respectively, of properties underwater.
Statewide, 16.2 percent of homes with a mortgage were underwater at the end of the year, which kept Illinois in the top five states with the highest percentage of residential properties with negative equity. Others on that inauspicious list were Nevada, 24.2 percent; Florida, 23.2 percent; Arizona, 18.7 percent; and Rhode Island, 15.8 percent. Altogether, the top five accounted for almost 32 percent of the nation's underwater properties.
Nationally, CoreLogic said 1.2 million borrowers regained equity and stopped being upside down on their mortgages in 2014. That leaves 5.4 million properties still underwater.
mepodmolik@tribpub.com
