There were 3.6 million houses – or 6.6 percent of homes with mortgages – that were seriously underwater at the end of March, according to a new report from ATTOM Data Solutions. That is up slightly from the 6.4 percent at the end of 2019.
Seriously underwater means the combined estimated balance of loans secured by the property were at least 25 percent more than its estimated market value.
The report released last week also found that 14.5 million – or 26.5 percent – residential properties in the United States were equity rich, which means loans on the property was 50 percent or less than their estimated market value.
The ZIP codes with the highest shares of seriously underwater were:
- 71446, Leesville, Louisiana (65.1 percent)
- 08611, Trenton, New Jersey (59.8 percent)
- 53206, Milwaukee, Wisconsin (59.2 percent)
- 44110 in Cleveland (58.6 percent)
- 08104 in Camden, New Jersey (54.6 percent)
All but two of the top 50 equity rich ZIP codes were in California, most in the San Frncisco Bay area. They include:
- 94116 in San Francisco (82 percent)
- 94122 in San Francisco (81.3 percent)
- 94040 in Mountain View (80 percent)
- 94112 in San Francisco (78.9 percent)
- 94087 in Sunnyvale, California (78.4 percent)
The same ZIP codes were the top five at the end of 2019.