From the Calculated Risk Blog comes this interesting graphic constructed from data released today from the First American CoreLogic Negative Equity Report for December 2008. This shows the proportion of mortgaged properties 'underwater,' or whose value is less than the amount owed on the mortgage. What is comforting is that Oregon is in the bottom few states in terms of negative equity. This could get a lot worse if the job market continues to decline rapidly, but could be helped by the Obama mortgage plan as well as the stimulus and the bailout. The moral for the moment is that we may be one of the worst hit states in terms of unemployment, but at least our housing market is not is complete disarray. Still the number of unsold homes relative to sales is pretty dismal.
Sigh, I'll be so glad when I can start to report actual positive economic news again...
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