First American CoreLogic’s Negative Equity Data Report
(as of September 30, 2008)
Overview:
The First American CoreLogic Negative Equity Report is the industry’s first state-level assessment of
negative equity estimates for all single-family residential properties in the U.S. The data includes nearly
42 million properties that have a first and/or second mortgage, which account for over 80% of all
mortgages in the US. The first report looks at negative equity and near-negative equity as of September
30, 2008. First American CoreLogic will update this report on a quarterly basis.
Summary of findings:
• Over 7.5 million mortgages or 18% of all properties with a mortgage were in a negative equity
position as of the end of September 2008. There are an additional 2.1 million mortgages that are
approaching negative equity. These are defined as mortgages within 5% of being in a negative
equity position. Negative-equity and near-negative equity mortgages combined account for over
23% of all properties with a mortgage.
• The distribution of negative equity is heavily skewed to a small number of states. Nevada and
Michigan have the highest percentages of negative equity - Nevada led the nation with an
estimated 48% and Michigan was second with 39%. Five other states have negative equity shares
in excess of 20%: Florida (29%), Arizona (29%), California (27%), Georgia (23%), and Ohio
(22%).
• The top 6 states in terms of negative equity account for over 58% of all negative equity
mortgages, although they only account for 36% of all mortgages. The average negative equity
share among the top 6 states is 29% compared to 18% for the US overall.
• Excluding the top 6 states, the average negative equity in the remaining 44 states is 12%, well
below the national average. New York has the lowest share of mortgages in negative equity at
7%, followed closely by Hawaii (8%), Pennsylvania (9%) and Montana (10%).
• The states with high negative equity shares tend to fall in three groups. The first group