Las Vegas sees drop in underwater homeowners, but area still hurting

A view of homes in Henderson, April 4, 2011.

Las Vegas had fewer underwater homeowners in recent months but remained high atop the country’s hardest-hit list.

Some 63 percent of Las Vegas Valley homeowners with mortgages were underwater — meaning their debt exceeded the home’s value — during the third quarter, or the three months ending Sept. 30, according to a report out today from Seattle-based research firm Zillow. That’s down from 68.5 percent in the period ending June 30.

In both quarters, Las Vegas had the highest rate of underwater borrowers among the 30 metro areas tracked in the reports.

Atlanta was second to Las Vegas each time. Some 50.4 percent of its borrowers were underwater in the third quarter, down from 54.4 percent in the second.

Nationally, about 28 percent of homeowners were underwater in the third quarter, compared with 31 percent in the second.

This past quarter, North Las Vegas had the highest rate of underwater borrowers in the valley at 73.5 percent. The city of Las Vegas was at 63 percent, Henderson at 55.2 percent.

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