Almost 10 million homeowners are 'underwater' or just above - Oct. 31, 2008
7.5 million homeowners 'underwater'
Nearly a fifth of U.S. borrowers owe more on their mortgages than their homes are currently worth - and that number is growing.
Top 10 states with underwater loans
State # of mortgages % underwater
Nevada 609,577 47.8%
Michigan 1,145,572 38.6%
Arizona 1,287,076 29.2%
Florida 4,248,470 29.2%
California 6,461,981 27.4%
Georgia 1,456,327 23.2%
Ohio 1,905,000 22%
Colorado 1,045,773 18.3%
New Hampshire 144,479 17.2%
Texas 2,721,638 16.5%
Source:First American CoreLogic
Top 10 states with the fewest underwater loans
State # of mortgages % underwater
New York 1,554,607 4.4%
Hawaii 201,188 5.6%
Pennsylvania 1,413,181 5.7%
Montana 87,181 6.9%
Connecticut 678,766 7.4%
Alabama 238,978 7.4%
Oregon 641,820 7.5%%
Washington 1,273,659 7.6%
New Mexico 186,844 8.2%
New Jersey 1,748,179 9.3%
Source:First American CoreLogic
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NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- At least 7.5 million Americans owe more on their mortgages than their homes are currently worth, according to a real estate research firm's report released Friday.
In other words: If they sold their homes today, they'd have to bring a check to the closing. Ouch.
Another 2.1 million people stand right on the brink, according to the report by First American CoreLogic. Their homes are worth less than 5% more than the mortgages they're paying on them.
The technical term for this phenomenon is negative equity; more colloquially, these borrowers are often referred to as being "underwater."
"Being underwater leaves homeowners vulnerable to foreclosure," said Mark Fleming, CoreLogic's chief economist.
