Underwater mortgage rate rises from a year ago

While Attom’s recent quarterly numbers for the share of underwater mortgages show improvement in the near term, the percentage is running higher than it was a year ago, revealing regions with stress.

The share of seriously underwater loans relative to all outstanding mortgages stood at 2.7% at the close of the second quarter, according to the real-estate data provider. The percentage inched down from 2.8% three months earlier but still sat above the 2.4% level of a year ago. 

At the same time, the percentage of equity-rich homeowners — whose outstanding balances are less than half their property value — pulled back from last year’s high but still accounted for nearly half, or 47.4% of all loans.

That share decreased from second-quarter 2024’s 49.2% but headed back up after three…