Worst Real Estate Cities

Nearly one in four American homeowners are now underwater on their mortgage. Richard Florida crunches the numbers to find the 20 cities with the biggest debt and housing problems.

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galleries/2010/08/30/worst-real-estate-cities/worst-real-estate-cities---riverside_nnpoze — According to a recent research report from the Center for Responsible Lending, 34 percent of California mortgages are “upside down,” with home owners owing more than their home's worth. The Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario area joins two other California neighborhoods as three of the nation's largest metro areas with negative equity.
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galleries/2010/08/30/worst-real-estate-cities/worst-real-estate-cities---las-vegas_hkg2og — Sin City's foreclosure crisis has caused its homeless population to balloon to nearly 14,000 (up from 12,000 two years ago). This has overwhelmed the city's homeless shelter system—which can only offer so many beds—causing some residents to venture underground below the famous Las Vegas Strip in search of shelter.
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galleries/2010/08/30/worst-real-estate-cities/worst-real-estate-cities---orlando_uw5u7o — Since mid-2006, home prices in the Orlando area plummeted by 50 percent, with the number of homeowners with negative equity rising.
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galleries/2010/08/30/worst-real-estate-cities/worst-real-estate-cities---phoenix_u8wjja — Arizona has received $125.1 million from the government's Hardest-Hit Housing Markets fund, but its unemployment rate may prevent it from getting more foreclosure-prevention funding. The government is ready to dole out more money to help stave off more foreclosures, but only to states with unemployment rates higher than 12 percent.
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galleries/2010/08/30/worst-real-estate-cities/worst-real-estate-cities---sacramento_ubqdzc — Despite shockingly low interest rates on mortgages (which have fallen below 4 percent for 15-year loans), Sacramento area residents are unable to refinance due to negative equity, bad credit ratings, and joblessness—as of this June, 12.4 percent of the workforce was unemployed in the El Dorado, Placer, Sacramento, and Yolo counties. Over 200,000 households in those counties are underwater on their mortgages, with negative equity.
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galleries/2010/08/30/worst-real-estate-cities/worst-real-estate-cities---miami_q34quh — Foreclosures in South Florida continue to rise, up almost a percent for the first six months of 2010.
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galleries/2010/08/30/worst-real-estate-cities/worst-real-estate-cities---tampa_nvcyyy — The housing crisis has not been kind to Tampa residents this year: In March alone, 4,696 Tampa Bay homeowners were sued for foreclosure and in July one out of every 219 homes was in the foreclosure cycle.
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galleries/2010/08/30/worst-real-estate-cities/worst-real-estate-cities---detroit_ooujzc — Nationally home sales have dropped precipitously through the summer (July saw the largest monthly drop in decades), and the Detroit area is no exception with sales decreasing by 19.4 percent from June to July.
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galleries/2010/08/30/worst-real-estate-cities/worst-real-estate-cities---atlanta_xksiqx — An already stressed housing market in Atlanta saw its crisis deepen this summer, with the number of foreclosure notices rising by a record high, up 59 percent in August from the previous month.
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galleries/2010/08/30/worst-real-estate-cities/worst-real-estate-cities---san-diego_nkllvc — In July homes sales in Southern California saw the biggest drop in over two years, with San Diego's sales falling 19.4 percent from the previous July. San Diego's median price increased by only 5.6 percent in one year.
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galleries/2010/08/30/worst-real-estate-cities/worst-real-estate-cities---jacksonville_hf5vjt — In 2009, 26,537 households were met with foreclosure notices, a 56 percent rise from the previous year
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galleries/2010/08/30/worst-real-estate-cities/worst-real-estate-cities---dc_l0zcay — The greater DC metro has proved surprisingly resilient during the recession, but it hasn't totally escaped problems tied to “underwater” houses and foreclosures.
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galleries/2010/08/30/worst-real-estate-cities/worst-real-estate-cities---va-beach_ikt6br — Things are getting slightly better for the Norfolk-Virginia Beach metropolitan area, where the number of underwater mortgages decreased at the end of June. But still more than one in five local mortgage borrowers (21 percent) are "underwater."
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galleries/2010/08/30/worst-real-estate-cities/worst-real-estate-cities---chicago_hb4k6o — 2009 saw a record 23,200 foreclosures reported in Chicago, a crisis that led to families moving in with each other into overcrowded living arrangements.
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galleries/2010/08/30/worst-real-estate-cities/worst-real-estate-cities---la_yvqds8 — Los Angeles home sales dropped 19.4 percent from July of last year.
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galleries/2010/08/30/worst-real-estate-cities/worst-real-estate-cities---memphis_ith5u0 — Home prices for the state of Tennessee fell 4.8 percent during the course of 2010, while past due mortgages rose to 10.8 percent in the first quarter from 10.5 percent in the previous quarter.
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galleries/2010/08/30/worst-real-estate-cities/worst-real-estate-cities---cleveland_cmku19 — Between 2007 and 2009 Cleveland saw about 10,000 foreclosures.
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galleries/2010/08/30/worst-real-estate-cities/worst-real-estate-cities---columbus_ysdrr8 — Columbus is just one of many Ohio cities suffering from a down market. Ohio's dire economy prompted the federal government to give the state an additional $148 million in housing money this year.
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galleries/2010/08/30/worst-real-estate-cities/worst-real-estate-cities---portland_yhoruf — Getty Images

galleries/2010/08/30/worst-real-estate-cities/worst-real-estate-cities---providence_nsdn1c — iStockPhoto.com

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