About 5 percent of mortgaged LI homes in 'negative equity'

On Long Island, one in every 20 mortgaged homes were worth less than what was owed on the loans, according to a recent report from First American CoreLogic, which tracks real estate data.

In releasing its fourth-quarter figures for last year, the company said about 5.4 percent of mortgaged properties on Long Island, or 27,729 homes, were in “negative equity.” The figures include residential properties owned by investors.

Another 9,233 homes, about 1.8 percent of mortgaged properties, were near negative equity in Nassau and Suffolk, the firm said.

Nationwide, more homeowners held mortgages that exceeded the value of their homes in the fourth quarter, the report said. It was a problem for almost one out of every four properties with mortgages -- 11.4 million homes, or 24 percent of all residential loans, First American CoreLogic said.

That’s up from the third quarter of 2009, when it was 10.7 million homes, or 23 percent of all residential properties with mortgages.

The firm said its report covers about 47 million mortgaged properties, about 85 percent of all mortgages in the nation.