Press Room

In the News

Los Angeles Times | Real Estate: Negative equity remains a drag on housing market

By Alejandro Lazo. Nearly 1 in 3 homeowners with a mortgage in L.A. County owes more than the property is worth, new data show. These underwater loans hinder mobility and hurt prices because they tend to stymie the important move-up market.

May 24, 2012

Richard Green, director of the USC Lusk Center for Real Estate, has studied the issue and found that borrowers who had put higher down payments on their properties were less likely to abandon their homes even if they couldn't sell their homes for enough to pay off their mortgages.

"People don't like to walk away from something they have put money into," Green said. "People seem to hate realizing losses."

For the full article, see the link below:

Link: Los Angeles Times | Real Estate