Today’s presence of underwater mortgages, or homes with negative equity, seem to be correlated to two common regional U.S. population trends: domestic immigration from the Northeastern region to the South and Southwestern and migration from coastal California inland.

While traditional methods such a newspaper and magazine ads still have their place, New Zealanders like many others now go online for a large portion of their research.

Hopes rose for a comeback in the U.S. housing market with recent announcements that new home sales rose again in July, posting the highest numbers since September 2008.