Negative Equity

The Zillow Negative Equity Report is released on a quarterly basis, and calculates the share and number of homeowners in an area that are underwater on their mortgage, owing more than the value of their home. The data in the report incorporates mortgage data from TransUnion. The report includes, but is not limited to, negative equity rates, “effective” negative equity rates, loan-to-value ratios, and delinquency rates. To calculate negative equity, the estimated value of a home is matched to all outstanding mortgage debt and lines of credit associated with the home, including home equity lines of credit and home equity loans. All personally identifying information ("PII") is removed from the data by TransUnion before delivery to Zillow. Overall, this report covers more than 870 metros, 2,500 counties, and 24,700 ZIP codes across the nation.

To download the comprehensive research brief, visit www.zillow.com/research/reports 

The negative equity visualization can be found here: http://www.zillow.com/visuals/negative-equity/

Highlights (Q2 2015):

• The U.S. rate of negative equity among mortgaged homeowners continued to drop in the second quarter of 2015, to 14.4 percent.
• The improvement was spurred by value growth among homes in the least valuable third of the housing stock, which are far more likely to be underwater than other homes.
• Condos are more likely to be underwater than single-family homes. Almost 20 percent of all condos with a mortgage nationwide are underwater.

Past Reports:

• Q2 2015
• Q1 2015
• Q4 2014
• Q3 2014
• Q2 2014
• Q1 2014
• Q4 2013
• Q3 2013
• Q2 2013
• Q1 2013