About 21% of Baton Rouge properties with a mortgage had negative equity in the second quarter, meaning the loans borrowers secured for their properties are at least 25% more than what the properties are actually worth.
The U.S. Home Equity & Underwater report was released today. Produced by ATTOM Data Solutions, a California-based curator of a multisourced property database, the report is based on publicly recorded mortgage and deed trust data.
Baton Rouge, the report notes, is among six U.S. metropolitan statistical areas with the highest share of seriously underwater properties in the second quarter.
ATTOM found 24,491 properties—or 21% of those tied to a mortgage—in Baton Rouge are considered “seriously underwater,” while 13,587 of them being financed are “equity rich,” meaning the loan amount secured by the property was 50% or less of the estimated market value of the property. In the New Orleans-Metairie area, meanwhile, 20,557 properties—or 18% of those tied to a mortgage—are equity rich, while 16,959—or 14.8% of those with a mortgage—are “seriously underwater.”
Statewide, the second-quarter data doesn’t look any better. Louisiana is among five states—including Nevada, Illinois, Ohio and Indiana—with the highest share of seriously underwater properties. In Louisiana, 17% of properties with mortgages suffer from negative equity.
Nationally, the number of properties with negative equity declined to 5.4 million in the second quarter, down by more than 64,000 properties from the previous quarter and by more than 1.2 million a year ago. ATTOM says at least 14 million U.S. properties were equity rich.
