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Twice as many Chicago homeowners underwater than national average
Only Miami has more owners owing more than their house is worth
Chicago has more than twice as many homeowners who are underwater on their mortgage than the national average.
In the second quarter, 8.7 percent of Chicago-area homeowners owed more than their home was worth, compared with 4.3 percent of homeowners nationwide, according to a report from CoreLogic analyzed by Crain’s.
Miami was the only U.S. big city with more underwater homes at 11.4 percent, the report showed. In six of the top 10 metro areas, the rate was under 2 percent.
Some 116,900 Chicago-area households were underwater six months into 2018, more than there were in New York, Los Angeles and Boston combined.
The report attributed Chicago’s slow recovery to slow employment growth, particularly for African-Americans, loss of population and a shift of homebuyers’ attention from outer suburbs toward the city and inner suburbs. That has dampened demand that otherwise could have pushed home prices up.
The city saw a 2.1 percent bump in median home prices during the first seven months of the year, according to the Chicago Association of Realtors.
In August, sales of homes valued at $500,000 or above grew by 4.4 percent, while more moderately priced home sales dropped 2.6 percent, according to a market analysis this week by Re/Max. [Crain’s] — John O’Brien