Two and a half million underwater homeowners have overcome negative equity at the close of the second quarter. In June, 7.1 million mortgage holders, or 14.5 percent of all borrowers, were upside down on their houses, compared to 9.6 million in the first quarter of the year. That’s a vast improvement from 2009 when 26 percent of all borrowers were underwater, according to CNN Money.
The most recent housing report by CoreLogic indicates that improving home prices have boosted underwater homeowners, enabling them to regain their footing in the second quarter. Reuters reports that the S&P/Case Shiller composite index of 20 metropolitan areas highlights that home prices have risen by 12.1 percent in June of this year from the same month in 2012.
As home values have gone up, negative equity rates have fallen. USA Today maps the percentage of underwater borrowers in major metropolitan cities for the current year and forecasts anticipated levels for 2014. Among the cities measured, Las Vegas currently posts the highest underwater rate at 48.4 percent, while San Jose boasts the lowest at 11.2 percent. Overall, levels of negative equity are expected to decline in the coming year.