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U.S. NEGATIVE EQUITY FALLS TO 17 PERCENTOne in six (17 percent) U.S. homeowners with mortgages – or 8.7 million – were still underwater on their mortgage in the second quarter of 2014, despite rising home values, according to the Zillow Negative Equity Report. This is down from 18.8 percent in the first quarter of 2014, and down from 23.8 percent from last year (Q2 2013).

The effective negative equity rate, or the percentage of homeowners who have less than 20 percent equity in their home, fell to 34.8 percent in the second quarter, down from 36.9 percent from the first quarter of 2014, and down from 41.9 percent last year (Q2 2013). Homeowners with less than 20 percent equity in their current home may have a difficult time covering the costs on selling and purchasing a new property.

Looking ahead, the national negative equity rate is expected to fall to 14.9 percent of all homeowners with a mortgage by the end of the second quarter of 2015, according to the Zillow Negative Equity Forecast.

CONSUMER CONFIDENCE IMPROVES AGAIN
The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index, which had increased in July, improved further in August. The Index now stands at 92.4 (1985=100), up from 90.3 in July. The Present Situation Index increased to 94.6 from 87.9, while the Expectations Index edged down to 90.9 from 91.9 in July.

Consumers’ appraisal of current conditions continued to improve through August, with those saying business conditions are “good” edging up to 23.9 percent from 23.3 percent, and those claiming business conditions are “bad” declining to 21.5 percent from 22.8 percent. Consumers’ assessment of the job market was also more positive. Those stating jobs are “plentiful” increased to 18.2 percent from 15.6 percent, while those claiming jobs are “hard to get” declined marginally to 30.6 percent from 30.9 percent.

Consumers were slightly less optimistic in August about the short-term outlook. The percentage of consumers expecting business conditions to improve over the next six months held steady at 20.4 percent, while those expecting business conditions to worsen fell to 10.2 percent from 12.1 percent. 

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