Even as Greater Washington’s housing market reaches new heights, thousands of owners owe more on their homes than they are worth, according to data provided to the Washington Business Journal by real estate search company Zillow.
More than 132,000 homeowners across the D.C. area — about 12.1 percent of all mortgages — owe more on their mortgages than their houses are worth (referred to as “negative equity”), and nowhere is it worse than in Prince George’s County.
More than one quarter (26.6 percent) of mortgages in Greenbelt exceed the value of the associated home, according to the data. If you factor in homes that are worth less than 20 percent more than their current mortgages, which real estate experts believe makes it harder to sell a home or make a profit, that rises to 43 percent.
About 23.1 percent of mortgages in Suitland have negative equity, along with 22.2 percent in Upper Marlboro and 21.6 percent in Brandywine.
In fact, out of all the cities in Greater Washington, the top 10 in negative equity rates are all located in Prince George’s. In Montgomery Village, in Montgomery County, about 18.2 percent of its mortgages are for more than the homes are worth.
On the other end of the spectrum lies Potomac, with just 4.4 percent of its mortgages worth more than their respective homes. Great Falls comes in at 4.6 percent, Friendship Village at 5.1 percent and Vienna at 5.4 percent.