Percentage of underwater homeowners in Boston fell over the last year
55,000 homeowners in the Boston metro area are underwater, or have negative equity, on their homes. That means 7.1 percent of all homeowners in the area owe more on their home than their home is worth, according to a new Zillow report that analyzed quarter four of 2015.
The home buying site found that the percentage of underwater homeowners in the Boston metro has actually decreased in the past year by over 2 percent. Last year at this time, 9.8 percent of Boston metro area homebuyers owed more on their home than it was worth.
But nationally, the numbers are not so low.
In the United States, 6 million homeowners, or 13.1 percent of the population, were underwater in quarter four — though this number also fell a bit from quarter three of 2015. It has also fallen significantly from 2012 when 16 million homeowners had negative equity.
“Even though the number of underwater homeowners has fallen significantly since the peak of the housing crisis, negative equity persists in many markets as it fell at its slowest pace in a year,” Zillow Chief Economist Dr. Svenja Gudell said in a statement. “Things are moving in the right direction, but some owners are still deeply underwater. As we move into the home shopping season, inventory is already low, and negative equity is keeping potential additional stock from becoming available.”
And some homeowners are deeper underwater than others.
Zillow reported that in Boston, of the homeowners with negative equity, 11.6 percent owe at least twice as much as their homes are worth.
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