Las Vegas’ share of underwater homes dips, still one of highest in US

Las Vegas’ share of underwater homeowners keeps sliding but remains one of the highest in the nation.

An estimated 16.8 percent of Las Vegas-area homeowners with mortgages were underwater – meaning their debt outweighed their home’s value – in the third quarter, according to a new report from home-listing service Zillow.

That’s down from 22.1 percent in the same period last year and well below its peak of 71 percent in the first quarter of 2012.

But Las Vegas’ share of upside-down borrowers last quarter was second-highest among the 35 metro areas listed in Zillow’s report, closely behind Chicago’s 17 percent.

Nationally, 10.9 percent of borrowers were underwater.

Las Vegas was one of the hardest-hit markets in the country during the recession, and it’s had one of the highest rates of upside-down borrowers since. Rising home values, however, have lifted people out of negative equity valleywide.

The median sales price of previously owned single-family homes – the bulk of the market – bottomed out in January 2012 at $118,000. The median last month was $240,000, more than double the low point, according to Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors data.