Poll: 22% of Homeowners Have Difficulty Making Mortgage Payments

According to a new poll from the New York-based market research firm ""Harris Interactive"":http://www.harrisinteractive.com, 22 percent of people with mortgages have difficulty making their monthly payments, and 7 percent have ""a great deal of difficulty.""
[IMAGE] The poll also reveals that 21 percent think they are underwater, meaning their homes are worth less than the amount owed on their mortgages. This overall figure is up from 24 percent last year, and includes 8 percent who say their homes are now worth ""a lot less"" than their mortgage balance.

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Two-thirds - 66 percent - of all adults have mortgages on their homes, which is slightly lower than last year's 69 percent.

Compared to the results from last year's poll, those having difficulty paying their mortgages declined by 7 percent this year, and those having a great deal of difficulty dropped 4 percent.

Harris Interactive warns that these improving numbers are deceptive. One reason why slightly less people have difficulty this year is that some people who had difficulty last year lost their homes and no longer have mortgages.

According to a statement from the company, these poll results are consistent with other Harris Poll data on the economy that show a modest but still ""painfully slow recovery"" from the recession.

The Harris Poll was compiled from online surveys of 3,171 adults between March 7 and 14, 2011. The data was weighted to reflect the composition of the adult population. Because the sample is based on those who agreed to participate in the Harris Interactive panel, no estimates of theoretical sampling error were calculated.