IRVINE, CA—RealtyTrac has released its Q2 2015 U.S. Home Equity & Underwater Report, which shows that as of the end of the second quarter there were 7,443,580 US residential properties that were seriously underwater. That measure, is where the combined loan amount secured by the property is at least 25% higher than the property's estimated market value. And the 7.4 million figure representing 13.3% of all properties with a mortgage.

The second quarter underwater numbers were up from 7,341,922 seriously underwater homes representing 13.2% of all homes with a mortgage in the previous quarter — making Q2 the second consecutive quarter with a slight increase in both the number and share of seriously underwater properties. But the numbers are down from 9,074,449 (17.2%) in the second quarter of 2014. The number and share of seriously underwater homes peaked in the second quarter of 2012 at 12,824,729 seriously homes representing 28.6% of all homes with a mortgage.

“Slowing home price appreciation in 2015 has resulted in the share of seriously underwater properties plateauing at about 13% of all properties with a mortgage,” said Daren Blomquist, vice president at RealtyTrac. “However, the share of homeowners with the double-whammy of seriously underwater properties that are also in foreclosure is continuing to decrease and is now at the lowest level we've seen since we began tracking that metric in the first quarter of 2012.”