A new report from RealtyTrac shows that Florida claimed 4 of the top 9 markets suffering from seriously underwater residential properties in the second quarter. Seriously underwater properties are defined as those whose combined loan amount exceeds the value of property securing those loans by at least 25 percent. Nationwide, at the end of the second quarter, there were 7,443,580 U.S. residential properties that were seriously underwater, representing 13.3 percent of all mortgaged properties.
The most troubled markets with a population greater than 500,000 were Lakeland, Fla., (28.5 percent); Cleveland, Ohio (28.2 percent); Las Vegas (27.9 percent); Akron, Ohio (27.3 percent); Orlando (26.1 percent); Tampa (24.8 percent); Chicago (24.8 percent); Palm Bay, Fla. (24.4 percent); and Toledo, Ohio (24.3 percent).
“Slowing home price appreciation in 2015 has resulted in the share of seriously underwater properties plateauing at about 13 percent of all properties with a mortgage,” said Daren Blomquist, vice president at RealtyTrac. “However, the share of homeowners with the double-whammy of seriously underwater properties that are also in foreclosure is continuing to decrease and is now at the lowest level we’ve seen since we began tracking that metric in the first quarter of 2012.”
