Chicago leads US in underwater homes
A sign advertises a home for sale in the Bucktown neighborhood of Chicago. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
(FOXBusiness) - The U.S. housing market has been on the rebound in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, but one major city has thousands of homes that remain underwater.
A recent report from the real estate website Zillow shows Chicago leading the country with 254,000 homes in negative equity. Twenty percent of the quarter million people with underwater mortgages owe double the current value of the home.
Los Angeles, the only other U.S. metro area bigger than Chicago, had 74,000 underwater homes, while San Francisco had 20,000.
Cities that were hardest hit by the housing crisis have rebounded. Less than 10% of homes in Las Vegas are underwater, and Miami has an underwater rate of 8.7%.
The appreciation of home values in the Chicago area has decreased over the years in part by crime, unfunded pensions and taxes.
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