Other interesting findings include:
- Over two-thirds (69%) of adults who are homeowners have a mortgage that they need to pay off.
- People whose homes are believed to be worth less than the money owed on their mortgages are common across all income groups. Fully 26% of adults with mortgages who have household incomes of $75,000 or more believe their homes are worth less than the balance of their mortgages.
- Almost a third (29%) of adults with mortgages are having some difficulty (18%) or a great deal of difficulty (11%) paying off their mortgages.
- Among those who believe their homes are worth less than their outstanding mortgages, fully 26% are having a great deal of difficulty and another 23% are having some difficulty paying them off.
- The two-thirds (65%) of all adults who are concerned about having enough income to cover all their costs and expenses include 26% who are very concerned and 39% who are somewhat concerned.
- Among those who believe that their homes are worth less than their mortgages, fully 42% are very concerned and another 38% are somewhat concerned about not having enough income to cover their costs.
- Unsurprisingly, income levels make a big difference. Concerns about not having enough income to cover costs and expenses is much higher among people with household incomes below $35,000 (40% are very concerned) than among those with incomes over $75,000 (16% are very concerned).
So what?
These findings underline the very large number of people whose homes are worth less than their outstanding mortgages and the even larger numbers who are worried about covering their costs and expenses generally. If the percentages are converted into numbers, approximately 27 million adults believe they are “under water” – that their houses are worth less than their mortgage debts.
