By Cody DeBos and Kathy Hemsworth–
Data from a new report shows homeowners in the Citrus Heights area have seen the value of their homes increase dramatically in recent years, resulting in extremely low levels of homes left with “seriously underwater” mortgages.
ATTOM Data Solutions, a property database curator, released the report earlier this month – breaking down nationwide data by zip code, including the two Citrus Heights zip codes of 95610 and 95621. The report showed just 3.8% of homes in Citrus Heights were “seriously underwater” in the 2nd quarter of 2018, a term referring to homes where the property owner owes at least 25% more than the estimated market value of their property.
Compared to the same period last year, the rate of homes seriously underwater in Citrus Heights has been slashed nearly in half, dropping from a rate of 6.3% in the 2nd quarter of 2017.
“The rock-bottom share of seriously underwater homeowners in the two Citrus Heights zip codes is another sign that the Sacramento area is back in a full-fledged housing boom with the housing crash far in the rearview mirror,” said ATTOM Senior Vice President Daren Blomquist, in an email to The Sentinel.
According to ATTOM’s report, this is not the norm for properties in the majority of the U.S. where an average of 10% are still seriously underwater, including the nearby zip code of 95841 in the Foothill Farms area. Louisiana still has a rate of more than 20% of properties seriously underwater, followed by Illinois and Missouri around 18% each, and Mississippi and Ohio just over 16%.
“While other parts of the country are still dealing with a long tail of negative equity because home prices have not fully recovered back to pre-recession levels, that is not the case in Sacramento where median home prices were within $1,000 of their pre-recession peak in Q2 2018,” Blomquist said.
The report also found Citrus Heights had a higher-than-average rate of homes that are “equity rich,” an industry term referring to homes where the property owner has at least 50% equity.
“[O]ne in every three homeowners in the Citrus Heights zip codes are equity rich, and that should bode well for the local economy, particularly the housing-related businesses,” said Blomquist.
See the full report: click here
