Strategic Default

The GSE found that because of feelings that they are less financially secure, 27 percent of homeowners with negative equity would consider strategic default as a viable option. That stat is based on a nationwide poll taken during the first three months of this year, and is up from 15 percent who answered so in the January 2010 survey.


http://www.dsnews.com/articles/survey-more-underwater-homeowners-open-to-strategic-default-2011-05-13
 
Respondents to the academia poll said they believe homeowners are choosing not to pay their mortgages because they are unemployed or underemployed (46 percent) or because they over-borrowed (35 percent) due to the state of the economy.