Nearly one out of every four metro-Denver mortgage borrowers owed more on their homes than they were worth at the end of last year, according to a report Wednesday from First American CoreLogic.
In the Denver-Aurora area, 129,924, or 24.1 percent, of all properties carrying a mortgage have negative equity, the real-estate service firm based in Santa Ana, Calif., estimates.
An additional 34,799 mortgages, or 6.4 percent, are on the cusp of having negative equity, more commonly referred to as being upside down or underwater.
“The accelerating share of negative equity, combined with deteriorating economic conditions, means that mortgage risk will continue to increase until home prices and the economy begin to stabilize,” noted Mark Fleming, chief economist for First American CoreLogic.
While Denver’s share of underwater mortgages exceeds the national average of 20 percent, the area is faring much better than places such as Nevada, where more than half of mortgages were upside down at the end of last year.
Michigan ranked second with a negative-equity share of 40 percent, while 32 percent of Arizona mortgages and 30 percent of Florida and California mortgages were underwater.
The Treasury Department on Wednesday unveiled a plan to help homeowners with government- backed mortgages refinance. But those first mortgages must not exceed 105 percent of a home’s current value to qualify.
About 2.2 million mortgages, or 5.3 percent of the total nationally, have a negative-equity position of 25 percent or more.
Aldo Svaldi: 303-954-1410 or asvaldi@denverpost.com
