Mortgage Woes Hit High-End Properties

Washington, DC, Dec. 17, 2009–Relatively rich U.S. homeowners are having mortgage problems just like many other Americans.

Homeowners with mortgages of more than $1 million are defaulting at almost twice the U.S. rate and some are turning to so-called short sales to unload properties.

Payments on about 12 percent of mortgages exceeding $1 million were 90 days or more overdue in September, compared with 6.3 percent on loans less than $250,000 and 7.4 percent on all U.S. mortgages, according to data from First American CoreLogic Inc. of Santa Ana, California-based research firm.

The rate was 4.7 percent a year earlier.

About a quarter of all mortgaged homes in the U.S. have loan balances bigger than their current value, known as being upside down or underwater, the data company said.