WORLD PROPERTY CHANNEL ®

(SANTA ANA, CA) - Mortgage borrowers in Nevada, Michigan, Florida, Arizona, California, Georgia and Ohio now owe more on their loans than their homes are worth, according to a new report by First American CoreLogic.

Nevada leads the list of negative equity at 48%. Michigan is next at 39 percent. Florida and Arizona are in third place with 29 percent. California is right behind at 27%. Georgia has 23 percent; Ohio, 22 percent.

Source: First American CoreLogic, LoanPerformance HPI, 12-Month change by state.

The California research firm estimates one in three Florida mortgage borrowers owe more on their loans than their homes are worth.

The situation is expected to worsen in the coming months, according to Mark Fleming, Chief Economist at First American CoreLogic.

Mark Fleming

"For the third month now, the rate of decline has held steady at around 11 percent, with nominal home prices as of August declining 11.3 percent from a year ago and early September data indicating another 11 percent decline," says Fleming.

His projection for pre-foreclosure and foreclosure filings through the end of 2008 remains about 3.2 million. He cautions, however, "a significant increase in reported job losses in October is likely to pressure future pre-foreclosure and foreclosure filing projections upward."

Fleming expects house price declines "to maintain their current steady state or begin to accelerate downward again." He adds, "No news currently points to improvements in the near term."

First American CoreLogic, a member of The First American Corporation (NYSE:FAF) family of companies, is considered in the industry as a leader in residential mortgage data and analytics for the mortgage industry and Wall Street.

First American CoreLogic's August 2008 LoanPerformance House Price Index (HPI) is shown in the market-by-market listing in the chart below.

Fleming says the HPI provides "the most comprehensive set of monthly home price indices and median sales prices" covering 7,607 ZIP codes, 958 Core Based Statistical Areas (CBSA) and 673 counties located in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

"The indices, which are the most comprehensive available in the industry, are reported to clients five weeks after each full month ends," he says.

Source: First American CoreLogic, LoanPerformance HPI, 12-Month change by state; single family detached series.