Gains seen in negative equity picture

Number of underwater Manchester-Nashua homes falls to 7,863

Some 10.7 percent of Manchester-Nashua homes are in negative equity – a significant improvement from a year ago, according to property information and analytics firm CoreLogic

According to the firm, in Manchester-Nashua, 7,863, or 10.7 percent, of all residential properties with a mortgage were in negative equity as of the second quarter of 2015, compared with 10,744, or 14.1 percent, a year earlier, and 10,614, or 14.5 percent, in the first quarter of 2015.

An additional 2,406, or 3.3 percent, of properties were in near-negative equity for the second quarter of 2015, compared with 3,018, or 4 percent, in 2014, and 2,863, or 3.9 percent, in the first quarter of this year.

Negative equity, often referred to as "underwater" or "upside down," refers to borrowers who owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth. Negative equity can occur because of a decline in home value, an increase in mortgage debt or a combination of both.

Nationally, the firm said 759,000 properties regained equity in the second quarter of 2015, bringing the total number of mortgaged residential properties with equity at the end of the period to approximately 45.9 million, or 91 percent of all mortgaged properties.

Nationwide, borrower equity increased year over year by $691 billion.