Nearly one-fifth of all Bronx homeowners will get hosed if they try to sell — because they’re “underwater” on their mortgages, a new report says.
An astonishing 11,960 homes in The Bronx — 19.5% of the borough’s housing stock — are worth less than the owners currently owe on their mortgages, according to the Zillow real-estate Web site.
That rate is the worst in the city, and is even higher than the national average of 18.8 percent, according to Zillow’s new, first-quarter Negative Equity Report.
Having “negative equity” — also known as being underwater — happens when a homeowner’s outstanding mortgage exceeds the property’s value.
“Negative equity in the New York-metro area is heavily skewed to the lower-priced homes, which makes it harder for first-time homebuyers to find homes,” said Zillow economist Stan Humphries.
Queens has 26,517 homes that are underwater, but the rate there is only 12.1 percent — because at 109 square miles, Queens is more than double the size of The Bronx’s 42 square miles.
Manhattan and Staten Island both have 10.8 percent of all homes in negative equity, while Brooklyn is doing best among the five boroughs, with 9.3 percent of homes underwater.
Real estate appraiser Jonathan Miller said Zillow’s findings make sense because Brooklyn’s recent popularity has given it the most “robust” housing market in the city.
Sales prices for Brooklyn homes have spiked 20.5 percent in the last two years, while prices in The Bronx are only up 8.3 percent during the same period.
“Homeowners get out from under negative equity when the market rises, and they can sell or re-finance,” Miller said.
Nationwide, about 9.7 million homeowners are underwater, according to Zillow.