1 in 4 Homeowners Underwater

Mass abandonment of mortgages could trigger new economic plunge

(NEWSER) - A quarter of American homeowners now owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth and millions of them are thinking about just walking away. "Strategic defaults" on so-called underwater mortgages are on the rise, although abandoning mortgages is controversial and, to some, immoral. "We made a bad investment," one California homeowner tells NPR , but "I'm from a finance background. It makes no economic sense for us to hold on to this asset." More»

10% of mortgages expected to be underwater by June

(NEWSER) - The long slide in property values has left huge numbers of homeowners considering just walking away from their mortgages. People start thinking about jumping ship when their home value falls below 75% of what they paid for it, according to new research. Over 5 million Americans are expected to be in that situation by June and the Treasury admits that it hasn't come up with any large-scale plans to help people trapped in "underwater" mortgages. More»

Well-to-do buyers weren't immune to wacky loans, and they're coming due

(NEWSER) - The country's most expensive homes are now making up a larger segment of foreclosures in the most recent spike of mortgage defaults. An analysis of recent data shows that 30% of June foreclosures involved homes valued in the top third based on location; that’s up from just 16% at the beginning of the crisis. “The slope of that curve in recent months is much sharper than it was recently,” an economist tells the Wall Street Journal. More»

$50B plan proving ineffective as more mortgage holders lose their jobs

(NEWSER) - The Treasury's $50 billion loan-modification program is in danger of being swamped as the foreclosure crisis accelerates, the Congressional Oversight Panel said in a report yesterday. The Home Affordable Modification Program has met its target of 500,000 trial mortgage modifications started by November 1, but the watchdog warned that foreclosure starts are outnumbering modifications 2 to 1 as the crisis spreads from subprime to prime mortgages. More»

(NEWSER) - Nearly half of US homeowners will owe more than their house is worth by 2011, Deutsche Bank analysts said yesterday, predicting that the number of such “underwater” mortgages would nearly double from today’s 26% to 48%. Their report stated that home prices will fall another 14% between now and then, and that those declines will have a huge impact on prime “conforming” loans, which make up two-thirds of all mortgages. More»