Rate of underwater homeowners in Philadelphia continues to fall: Report
Researchers at Zillow doing third-quarter analysis nationally and regionally determined that the number of homeowners with mortgages considered underwater (called the "negative equity rate") fell to 10.9 percent nationally and 11.8 percent in Philadelphia. While the city rate exceeds the national rate, both numbers are down from the previous quarter and year-over-year.
The numbers are encouraging on a big-picture level. Nationwide, home values are just about back to where they were during the housing bubble (this, of course, is cold comfort to the one-in-10 folks with underwater mortgages in spite of that fact). The national negative equity rate fell from 12.1 percent earlier this year and 13.4 percent this time last year.
For Philadelphians, the negative equity rate fell from 14.2 percent earlier this year and from 15.5 percent this time in 2015. But while home values nationally are back up, values in Philadelphia are still 7.5 percent below where they were during the height of the housing bubble.
Check out the whole report, including a national interactive map, here.
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