Negative Equity Figures Are Staggering

In the Tampa Bay area there are about 700,000 mortgages. Of those, 351,980 borrowers are upside-down in their property. That's 50.6 percent.

Throughout the State of Florida, there are about 4,700,000 mortgages. Of those, 2,300,000 borrowers are upside-down in their property. That's 49.4 percent.

This information came across my desk today. It's from First American CoreLogic.

I find those statistics simply staggering. Mind boggling. Crazy-high.

The reason these figures are so high is because First American CoreLogic changed the way they figure the mortgage amount. They are now including second mortgages, whereas they did not include that debt before. So, the debt figures are now higher. Frankly, I think that's fair. The second mortgage does represent debt against the property so it probably should be included.

Just thought you'd like to see these new figures.

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