Honolulu homes hold value
Honolulu's resilient home values have made the city one of the least likely in the country for homeowners to end up negative equity or owing more on their home than they could sell it for.
Nearly 16 percent of homeowners nationwide who purchased homes in the last year owe more than the current value of their homes, according to a new study by the real estate Web site Zillow.com.
"Continuing depreciation coupled with the downward trend in the size of mortgage down payments has left many new home owners 'upside down' on their mortgage," said Stan Humphries, company vice president of data and analytics.
Homeowners in California, Florida and Las Vegas have been hit the hardest during the past year, recording double-digit depreciation and up to five times more negative equity than the national median.
But Honolulu tied with Bellingham, Wash., at a 0.9 percent, for the second-lowest amount of negative equity for homeowners who bought during the past year. Cleveland, Tenn., had the least, 0.6 percent.
Leroy Laney, First Hawaiian Bank economics consultant, said part of the reason Honolulu has bucked the trend is because the economy remains strong with an extremely tight labor market and increases in job growth.
"I don't think we're out of the woods, but I don't see any reason to suspect the bottom's going to fall out suddenly," he said.
Negative and positive
Metropolitan areas with the least negative equity:
Cleveland, Tenn. |
0.6% |
Bellingham, Wash. |
0.9% |
Honolulu |
0.9% |
Morristown, Tenn. |
1.0% |
Tulsa, Okla. |
1.2% |
Rockford, Ill. |
1.4% |
Metropolitan areas with the most negative equity: |
Merced, Calif. |
72.1% |
Stockton-Lodi, Calif. |
66.6% |
Modesto, Calif. |
58.7% |
El Centro, Calif. |
54.4% |
Yuba City, Calif. |
53.6% |
Bakersfield, Calif. |
51.5% |
Source: Zillow.com