Nearly half of mortgages in Chicago area underwater (Mary Ellen Podmolik)

Nov. 8, 2011 (Chicago Tribune) -- A little more than 46 percent of all single-family homes with a mortgage in the Chicago area were underwater in the year's third quarter, far more than the nation as a whole.

The percentage of homes in the Chicago area with negative equity, meaning more is owed on the mortgage than the value of the underlying property, rose 9 percent from the second quarter, according to a report scheduled to be released Tuesday by real estate website Zillow.

Nationally, 28.6 percent of homes with mortgages were underwater at the end of September.

READ MORE: Chicago Tribune