Underwater Homes at Lowest Level in Two Years

On April 3, CF Funding shared news that foreclosures and shadow inventory continue to decrease, and less than 1.9 million mortgages are in serious delinquency. Today the lender shares more good news, as the U.S. Home Equity & Underwater Report by RealtyTrac revealed that properties which are seriously underwater are at their lowest level in two years. The report covered the first quarter of 2014.

In the first quarter of 2013, 10.9 million properties (26 percent of all properties with a mortgage) were seriously underwater, in comparison to 9.1 million properties in the first quarter of 2014 (17 percent of all properties with a mortgage). The steady increase in home values seen in 2013 played a large part in restoring the equity to American homes over the past year. As CF Funding reported in February, this increase in home equity is “allowing homeowners to refinance and invest in remodeling projects.”

The percentage of homes which are “equity-rich,” meaning the home has 50 percent or more equity, rose 1 percent in the first quarter of 2014 to reach 9.9 million. The percentage of equity-rich homes in the fourth quarter of 2013 was 9.1 million or 18 percent. The states with the highest amount of seriously underwater properties were Nevada at 34 percent, Florida at 31 percent, Illinois at 30 percent, and Michigan at 29 percent.  According to the RealtyTrac website, the Naperville area has a foreclosure rate of 1 in every 1245. As seen in the geographical comparison chart below, the number of foreclosures in percentage of units by area (broken down by type of filing) puts Naperville at almost half the rate of Illinois and .01 percent lower than the national average. CF Funding hopes to see foreclosure rates for Illinois improve as home prices continue to rise.

CF Funding would like to remind homeowners who are underwater that foreclosure may be avoidable by refinancing or selling the home. As Daren Blomquist, vice president of RealtyTrac, said in the April 2014 report, “The relatively high percentage of foreclosures with equity is surprising to many because it would seem homeowners with equity could easily avoid foreclosure…but many distressed homeowners with equity may not realize they have equity and in some cases have vacated the property already, assuming that foreclosure is inevitable.” Those who have questions about refinancing to avoid foreclosure should contact a Loan Specialist at CF Funding Corporation today by calling (888) 344-4080 or visiting http://www.cffunding.com.