**GAO-10-633R**                      Published: May 14, 2010. Publicly Released: Jun 14, 2010.                  

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## Highlights

The decline of home prices in many parts of the country has left millions of homeowners with negative home equity, meaning that their outstanding mortgage balances exceed the current value of their homes. As we reported to you previously, a substantial proportion of borrowers with active nonprime mortgages (including subprime and Alt-A loans) had negative equity in their homes as of June 30, 2009. For example, among the 16 metropolitan areas examined, we estimated that the percentage of nonprime borrowers with negative equity ranged from about 9 percent (Denver, Colorado) to more than 90 percent (Las Vegas, Nevada). Research indicates that negative home equity substantially increases the risk of mortgage delinquency, making it an important dimension of ongoing problems in the nonprime market. To provide insight into how negative equity and loan performance among nonprime borrowers have varied by location and over time, this report examines, at the state level, the estimated proportion of nonprime borrowers with active loans that were in a negative equity position and the proportion that were seriously delinquent on their loan payments from 2006 through the end of 2009. This report is part of our broader examination of the evolution and condition of the nonprime market segment.

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## GAO Contacts

William B. Shear
shearw@gao.gov

(202) 512-8678

## Office of Public Affairs

Sarah Kaczmarek
kaczmareks@gao.gov

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## Topics

Housing

AssetsComparative analysisDelinquent loansForeclosuresHomeowners loansHousingLate paymentsLoan defaultsLoansMortgage loansMortgage programsPrices and pricingPropertyProperty depreciation