Nearly 7,000 homes in Wichita area financially “underwater”

In the first quarter, 7.4 percent of Wichita area homes with mortgages, or 6,913 homes, were “underwater,” meaning more was owed on the mortgage than the house was worth, according to real estate research firm CoreLogic.

Another 3,776 residential properties were nearly underwater.

In the fourth quarter, 7.3 percent of all mortgaged properties, or 6,817 properties, were underwater and another 3,946, were nearly so.

The figures are considered significant because homeowners who are underwater are more likely to go into foreclosure.

Wichita’s rate is far less than the worst places in the country. Nevada was the worst, with 61 percent of all mortgaged properties underwater, followed by Florida at 45 percent, Arizona at 43 percent, Georgia at 37 percent and Michigan at 35 percent. These top five states combined averaged 44.5 percent of all homes under water, while all remaining states averaged just 15.9 percent.