More than 45,000 locals still underwater

U-T San Diego reports:

More than 45,000 San Diego County homeowners owe more on their properties than they are worth, despite the run-up in home prices over the past two years.

A report released this month from Zillow says 46,875 homeowners in the county were underwater in this year's third quarter, comprising 10.1 percent of the county's property owners. Still, that's down from the 68,388, or 14.7 percent, of county property owners who had negative equity in their homes in the same time period of 2013.

Someone who owes more on their home than it is worth and cannot make payments is unable to sell the property to get out of the loan. Instead, that can lead to short sale or foreclosure. However, since bottoming out at $290,000 in January 2009, CoreLogic DataQuick reports the median price for a home in the county rose to $430,000 in November, with much of the gains led by investors who fix-and-flipped foreclosure resales in early 2013. Overall, it's helped a lot of people get out from underwater.

You can thank the Federal Reserve for this.