The number of "underwater" loans fell slightly to 11 million units in the second quarter, representing 23% of all outstanding mortgages in the U.S., according to new figures compiled by CoreLogic, Santa Ana, Calif.
In the first quarter, roughly 11.2 million mortgages had negative equity of one type or another, the research firm found.
CoreLogic noted that although there was some improvement in the negative equity picture, roughly 2.4 million borrowers had less than five percent equity in their homes.
Together, negative equity and "near-negative equity" accounted for nearly 28% of all residential mortgages in the second quarter.
The negative equity crisis remains concentrated in five states: Nevada where a startling 68% of mortgages are underwater, followed by Arizona (50%), Florida (46%), Michigan (38%) and California (33%).
The largest decrease in negative equity occurred among mortgagors with loan-to-value ratios in excess of 125%. Roughly 4.8 million borrowers fall into this category, CoreLogic said. In the first quarter the reading was 5 million borrowers.
