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BUSINESS

Just 49% Say Home Is Worth More Than Mortgage

For the second month in a row, less than half of America’s homeowners believe the value of their home is worth more than the amount they still owe on their mortgage.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of homeowners shows that 49% now believe their home is worth more than their mortgage. While that’s up from June’s all-time low of 45%, it is still just the third time this finding has fallen below 50% since late 2008.  (To see survey question wording, click here.)

Upper-income homeowners are more confident in their home value than those who earn less. Investors are much more confident than non-investors about their home’s value. Seventy-one percent (71%) of government workers believe their home is worth more than the mortgage. Just 50% of private sector employees and 42% of retirees share such optimism.

This result comes at a time when confidence that home values will improve has fallen to the lowest level ever recorded. 

In December 2008, 61% believed their home was worth more than their mortgage. While the numbers have declined since then, this is the first time ever that the number believing they had equity in their home stayed below 50% for two months in a row.

(Want a free daily e-mail update?  If it's in the news, it's in our polls). Rasmussen Reports updates are also available on Twitter or Facebook.

The national telephone survey of 676 Homeowners was conducted on July 17-18, 2011 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 4 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence.  Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC.  See methodology.

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