Nearly a quarter of homeowners with a mortgage are underwater or upside down, meaning they owe more on their home than it is now worth, according to new research published this week by First American CoreLogic. The real estate data provider says nearly 10.7 million, or 23 percent, of all residential properties with mortgages were in negative equity at the end of the third quarter, with the distribution of these homes heavily concentrated in five states.
Many have been quick to lay blame for the nation's housing and financial meltdown on the credit rating agency oligopoly, but Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray is one of the first to officially make the allegations in a court of law. Cordray is suing Standard & Poor's, Moody's, and Fitch for allegedly providing inflated ratings of mortgage-backed securities (MBS) in exchange for lucrative fees from the securities issuers.
In an effort to help borrowers with Countrywide subprime and option-ARM mortgages avoid foreclosure, Bank of America created its National Homeownership Retention Program (NHRP), providing mortgage relief to 100,000 eligible homeowners in just 10 months. In the third quarter alone, more than 31,000 customers received assistant through the NHRP, according to the bank's quarterly progress report.
Incremental price increases due to a rising demand for homes caused housing affordability in California to fall in the third quarter of 2009, according to the California Building Industry Association (CBIA). Results of the quarterly National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index (HOI) showed that of the state's 28 metro areas included in the report, homes were less affordable in 23 areas.
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