A new Harris Poll finds that fully 22% of people with mortgages are having difficulty meeting their mortgage payments, and this includes 7% who are having “a great deal of difficulty”. Furthermore, 21% of those with mortgages are “under water” in that they think their homes are worth less than the amounts that they owe.
However these numbers are somewhat lower than they were a year ago. Those having difficulty paying off their mortgages have declined from 29% to 22% (and those having a great deal of difficulty are down from 11% to 7%). At this time last year 24% of those with mortgages thought they were under water, three points higher than the number now.
These are some of the results of The Harris Poll of 3,171 adults surveyed online between March 7 and 14, 2011 by Harris Interactive.
Some of the main findings include:
- Two thirds (66%) of all adults have mortgages on their homes, slightly lower than last year’s 69%.
- While most homeowners with mortgages (73%) are having little or no difficulty making their mortgage payments, the 22% who are having difficulty represent about 32 million people. And the 7% having a great deal of difficulty represent more than 11 million people.
- Those who believe their homes are worth less than the money they owe on their mortgages (21% of all those with mortgages) include 8% who say their homes are worth “a lot less”. However theses numbers are somewhat lower than they were a year ago (24% and 11%).
- Most adults (62%), whether or not they are homeowners with mortgages, are at least somewhat concerned that their family’s income will not be enough to cover all their costs and expenses this year. This number is also very slightly lower than it was last year (65%). Unsurprisingly the higher the family income the lower the level of concern. But among the lowest income group, with household incomes of less than $35,000, fully 75% are concerned and 36% are very concerned.
So What?
These findings are consistent with other Harris Poll data on the economy that show a very modest, but, still painfully slow, recovery from the recession. Many millions of people are still hurting badly even if the numbers are slightly better than they were last year. It seems that we will continue to have a huge mortgage and foreclosure crisis until the economy is much stronger or house prices recover. It should be noted, however, that even the very modest improvements found in the poll may be deceptive. One reason why slightly less people are having difficulty paying their mortgages this year is that some people who were in difficulty last year have lost their homes and no longer have mortgages.
