About the map: Negative equity is calculated by matching the estimated value of a home to all outstanding mortgage debt and lines of credit associated with the home, including home equity lines of credit and home equity loans, supplied by TransUnion, a global leader in credit and information management. All personally identifying information ("PII") is removed from the data by TransUnion before delivery to Zillow. The counties and ZIP codes in the highest percentiles (1st, 5th, 10th and 20th percentiles) of negative equity are marked with a badge. Negative equity is calculated for owner-occupied homes with mortgages for more than 870 metros, 2,500 counties, and 24,200 ZIP codes. This map will be updated quarterly. Contact press@zillow.com for additional data points and information including negative equity by state, metro, county, and ZIP code, as well as national data.

About the Zillow Negative Equity Report: The Zillow Negative Equity Report is produced on a quarterly basis and captures the percent of homeowners who owe more on their mortgage than their home is worth from the national level down to the ZIP code level. Negative equity is commonly referred to as being underwater. The report also covers the delinquency rates of underwater mortgagees and the amount of equity among all mortgage holders.

Zillow Q1 2013 Negative Equity Report Summary: Zillow Q1 2013 Negative Equity Report Summary: According to the latest Zillow Negative Equity Report, 25.4 percent of U.S. homeowners with a mortgage were in negative equity, or “underwater,” at the end of the first quarter, owing more on their mortgage than their homes are worth. This represents approximately 13 million homeowners nationwide, and is down from 31.4 percent (or 15.7 million homeowners) in the first quarter of 2012. American homeowners with a mortgage were collectively underwater by approximately $950 billion at the end of the first quarter of 2013, the first time this figure has fallen below $1 trillion since Zillow began using our current methodology to track negative equity. As home values rise, more homeowners can expect to be freed from negative equity. Zillow currently predicts that the negative equity rate will fall to 23.5 percent by the end of the first quarter of 2014, bringing almost 1.5 million more homeowners into positive equity. Still, despite widespread home value appreciation recently, millions of homeowners remain trapped underwater. Of the top 30 metros covered by Zillow, 25 were underwater by more than 20 percent in the first quarter, and 20 had negative equity rates above the national average.

• Important links:
• Q1 2013 Negative Equity Blog Post
• Q1 2013 Negative Equity Report – Research Brief
• Official Zillow Q1 2013 Press Release