The number of homeowners nationwide who owe more on their mortgage than their home is worth is down by more than 40 percent, according to Zillow’s latest negative-equity report. Since 2012, more than 7 million homeowners have been able to restore balance to their negative home equity through improvement of their home’s property value, short sale, foreclosure, or by paying down their mortgage balance. Despite this encouraging shift, however, approximately 8.7 million homeowners are still upside down. Of those, the report reveals that owners of less expensive homes are more likely to be underwater. For example, in Chicago, more than 41 percent of homeowners in the market’s lowest-priced neighborhoods were upside down as compared to 10 percent of homeowners in Chicago’s most expensive areas.

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Image Credit: 401(K) 2012