The folks at CoreLogic report that the number of homeowners who owe more on their homes than the homes are worth fell for the 3rd straight quarter.
In the 3rd quarter only 10.8 million homeowners were underwater as opposed to 11 million the previous quarter. In percentage terms 27.5% of American homeowners upside down or nearly so.
The reason for the decline is not an increase in values but that underwater homes are slowly being taken by lenders through foreclosure. Foreclosure rates were up just one percent in September with 347,420 filings. So there continues to be a wide gap between underwater homeowners and foreclosures.
