Based on ATTOM Data Solutions' Q1 2019 US Home Equity & Underwater Report, at the end of the first quarter of 2019, more than 5.2m US properties were seriously underwater (where the combined balance of loans secured by the property was at least 25 percent higher than the property's estimated market value), up by more than 17,000 properties from a year ago.   The 5.2m seriously underwater properties at the end of Q1 2019 represented 9.1% of all US properties with a mortgage, up from 8.8% in the fourth quarter of 2018.

However, Todd Teta, chief product officer at ATTOM Data Solutions, said: “Only one in 11 mortgages are seriously underwater today, compared to nearly one in three during the depths of the recession. But if the latest trend continues, it will raise another clear signal of a market slowdown which will be good for buyers but not so good for sellers.”

States with the highest share of seriously underwater properties were Louisiana (20.7%); Mississippi (17.1%); Arkansas (16.3%); West Virginia (16.2%); and Illinois (16.2%).

States with the highest share of equity rich properties were California (43.0%); Hawaii (38.1%); New York (34.2%); Washington (33.2%); and Vermont (32.8%).