Nearly 1 in 4 California Homeowners Still Underwater

Inman News cites PropertyRadar on October 16, 2013: 

Despite a whopping 25 percent year-over-year jump in the median sales price of a home in California in September, 22 percent of homeowners in the Golden State remained underwater. That’s 1.5 million who owe more on their mortgage than their home is worth — down just over 50 percent from five years ago, according to real estate data firm PropertyRadar. An additional 420,000 had less than 10 percent equity in their homes, which means they are effectively underwater because closing costs are 6 to 10 percent of a home’s sale price, the firm said.

One bright spot: The number of homeowners with more than 10 percent equity in their homes has risen by 465,000, or 10.4 percent, since July.

Nonetheless, PropertyRadar founder and CEO Sean O’Toole said, ” (The) real recovery should be far farther along, and still has a long way to go.”