In the second quarter of 2016, 14 percent of homeowners in urban areas and 11 percent of owners in suburban areas owed more on their mortgages than their homes were worth.
According to the Wall Street Journal, although cities are attracting younger homebuyers, the higher rate of negative equity is due to a few poorer cities, like Detroit and Cleveland, that are suffering from a long-term economic decline.
Detroit and Cleveland have urban negative equity rates of 23 and 27 percent, compared to suburban negative equity rates of 12 and 14 percent. The figures come from a Zillow report.
The data also notes that of the 26 U.S. metros that had a Q2 negative equity rate above 10 percent, only Indianapolis had a higher rate in Q2 this year. The city had a slight increase from 15.0 to 15.2 percent.
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