Negative equity, which occurs when homeowners owe more on their mortgages than the equity in their homes, isn’t always a bad thing. Lately it’s been playing an important role in the lower end marketplace by restricting supply.

The months’ supply of homes in April fell to 6.5 months, the lowest level in more than five years. Demand is been up, particularly for lower priced properties where supply of REOs has been particularly tight due to slow processing of foreclosures in the wake of Robogate. However, owners who would otherwise sell haven’t been able to because large numbers of them are under water.

“Negative equity has become a positive force in real estate markets by restricting supply in the face of increasing demand,” wrote CoreLogic Senior Economist Sam Khater in the latest issue of The MarketPulse, CoreLogic’s monthly newsletter. “The impact is more significant on home prices at the lower end of the price distribution where supply is tighter because negative equity is higher. Khater said that over the past two months prices of less expensive properties are up an average of 4.5 percent from a year ago, compared to 0′6 percent for higher priced homes.

CoreLogic’s most recent negative equity report, issued in March, found that 11.1 million, or 22.8 percent, of all residential properties with a mortgage were in negative equity at the end of the fourth quarter of 2011, up from 10.7 million properties, 22.1 percent, in the third quarter of 2011.

The bulk of the negative equity is concentrated in the low end of the market. For low-to-mid value homes valued at less than $200,000, the negative equity share is 54 percent for borrowers with home equity loans, over twice the 26 percent for borrowers without home equity loans.

“We have transitioned from pricing dynamics driven by economic weakness and high shares of distressed sales to one of restricted supply, which will likely exist for some time to come-a reason for optimism in many hard-hit markets,” wrote Khater.

Several decades ago when the concept of internet use was barely conceivable, people all over the world had to contend with tiresome and involving methods and channels in the exchange of information. However, going by trends observed in the recent past, the situation has experienced a drastic turn around since of the invention of computer technology and the subsequent innovation of the internet.

Today, millions of people across the globe can easily share volumes of data and interact in real-time through social networks that have also undergone an incredible transformation. A combination of complicated technology and the desire to achieve globalization can be attributed to the internet evolution in social networks.

Early 1990

Over time, the basic concept behind social networking has changed form from complex designed to simple log and chat applications. For instance, in the early 1990s when social networking was gaining momentum there was a notable emergence of chat sites which allowed users to communicate in real time with friends and families across the globe.

However, the need to exchange more than just basic text communication drove innovators to design more viable applications that could factor in the exchange of multimedia content. Evidently, people chose to sign up to these social sites depending on the capacity of what they had to offer.

1990

The ability of internet applications to change within remarkably short timeframes saw the rise of more technologically versatile sites which offered wider and more attractive services. The introduction of video and web cameras ushered in a new dimension to social networking.

The internet evolution in social networks from the 1990s onwards introduced the concept of doing business through virtual platforms marking a deep-seated leap within the internet fraternity. On the other hand, the adoption of multimedia and web pages opened up the globe to easy communication and interaction.

2000

Perhaps the internet world had never experienced a significant overhaul, but come the year 2000, there was a massive explosion of activities in the sector. Within this period, some of the biggest names like Facebook, Twitter and Mezee came forth. It is around this era that social medial became acknowledged as an integral component in the contemporary world. Twitter which was launched in 2006 is credited with immense change within online communities. The advent of mobile technology catapulted social networking beyond the imagination of many. Mobile internet application became the blueprint for social relations both formally and informally. Today thousands of business deals are transacted over social sites.

Present

The internet evolution in social networks can be accredited to countless number of resultant rends. Businesses have invested heavily in social sites in an attempt to rake in extra profits. Today, it is risky for any company to ignore the importance of having an online presence especially through social media.

At the same time, niche sites have also come up to capitalize on the highly client rich domain. On personal levels, relationships have been built and families established by individuals who got attracted to each other through social sites, Facebook and Mezee.me being a notorious mention in recent years.

Eleven of the nation’s 20 largest metro areas based on population documented annual increases in foreclosure activity, led by the Florida cities of Tampa (59 percent) and Miami (38 percent). Other cities with increases included St. Louis (29 percent), Chicago (26 percent), Philadelphia (24 percent), and Atlanta (21 percent).

Among the 20 largest metros area, cities posting the biggest annual drops in foreclosure activity included Seattle (54 percent), Phoenix (44 percent), San Francisco (34 percent), Washington, D.C. (30 percent), Riverside-San Bernardino, Calif., (30 percent), and Los Angeles (28 percent), according to RealtyTrac’s April U.S. Foreclosure Market Report.

The metro areas with the highest foreclosure rates among the 20 largest were Riverside-San Bernardino (one in every 213 housing units with a foreclosure filing), Miami (one in every 273 housing units), Atlanta (one in every 298 housing units), Phoenix (one in every 313 housing units), and Tampa (one in every 315 housing units).

The 11 cities with annual increases in foreclosure activity were all in the Midwest, South or on the East Coast, while six of the nine cities with annual decreases were in the western states of California, Arizona and Washington.

April foreclosure activity decreased 5 percent from the previous month and was down 14 percent from April 2011. One in every 698 U.S. housing units had a foreclosure filing during the month.

“Rising foreclosure activity in many state and local markets in April was masked at the national level by sizable decreases in hard-hit foreclosure states like California, Arizona and Nevada,” said Brandon Moore, CEO of RealtyTrac. “Those three states, and several other non-judicial foreclosure states like them, more efficiently processed foreclosures last year, resulting in fewer catch-up foreclosures this year.

“In addition, more distressed loans are being diverted into short sales rather than becoming completed foreclosures,” Moore continued. “Our preliminary first quarter sales data shows that pre-foreclosure sales – typically short sales – are on pace to outnumber sales of bank-owned properties during the quarter in California, Arizona and 10 other states.”

Combined foreclosure activity in the 24 states with a non-judicial foreclosure process and the District of Columbia decreased 7 percent from the previous month and was down 29 percent from April 2011. More populous states like Arizona, California and Nevada drove the overall decreases in non-judicial foreclosure activity, but 14 of the 24 states and the District of Columbia posted month-over-month increases in foreclosure activity. Still, only seven of the non-judicial foreclosure states posted annual increases, including Georgia, Tennessee and Minnesota.

Combined foreclosure activity in the 26 states with a judicial foreclosure process decreased 3 percent from the previous month but was still up 15 percent from April 2011. Foreclosure activity decreased on a month-over-month basis in 14 of the judicial foreclosure states but increased on a year-over-year basis in 15 of the judicial foreclosure states.

After three straight monthly increases, U.S. foreclosure starts – default notices or scheduled foreclosure auctions, depending on the state – decreased 4 percent from March to April. A total of 97,665 properties started the foreclosure process for the first time during the month, down 2 percent from April 2011.

Despite the overall decrease in foreclosure starts, 26 states posted monthly increases in foreclosure starts, and 27 states posted year-over-year increases in foreclosure starts. States with the biggest annual increases in foreclosure starts included New Jersey (180 percent), Utah (179 percent), Indiana (49 percent), Pennsylvania (44 percent), Florida (43 percent), and Michigan (42 percent).

Bank repossessions (REOs) decreased on a monthly basis for the third straight month in April, down 7 percent from March. Lenders completed the foreclosure process on 51,415 U.S. properties during the month, down 26 percent from April 2011 – the 18th consecutive month with a year-over-year decrease in REOs.

REO activity decreased on an annual basis in 37 states and the District of Columbia, while 28 states posted monthly drops in foreclosure activity. States with the biggest year-over-year decreases in REO activity included Nevada (71 percent), Arizona (70 percent), Washington (67 percent), California (52 percent), Virginia (47 percent), and Maryland (47 percent).

A 15 percent month-over-month increase in foreclosure starts helped Nevada post the nation’s highest state foreclosure rate in April: one in every 300 housing units with a foreclosure filing. Despite the monthly increase in foreclosure starts, overall Nevada foreclosure activity decreased 67 percent from April 2011.

California foreclosure activity decreased 30 percent from April 2011, but the state still posted the nation’s second highest foreclosure rate: one in every 351 housing units with a foreclosure filing.

Florida foreclosure activity increased 26 percent from April 2011, boosting the state’s foreclosure rate to third highest in the nation. One in every 364 Florida housing units had a foreclosure filing during the month.

The top 10 foreclosure rates among metropolitan statistical areas with a population of 200,000 or more were all in Nevada, California and Florida. Stockton, Calif., led the way, with one in every 213 housing units with a foreclosure filing during the month. Seven other California cities had foreclosure rates in the top 10, along with Las Vegas at No. 7 and Miami at No. 9.

A 44 percent year-over-year decrease in foreclosure activity dropped Arizona’s foreclosure rate – one in every 377 housing units with a foreclosure filing – to fourth highest among the states, while a 21 percent year-over-year increase in foreclosure activity helped Georgia maintain the nation’s fifth highest state foreclosure rate – one in every 398 housing units with a foreclosure filing.

Other states with foreclosure rates ranking among the top 10 were Illinois (one in 418 housing units with a foreclosure filing), Utah (one in 419), Michigan (one in 487), Ohio (one in 525), and Wisconsin (one in 547).