Nearly 7 percent of people who bought homes in the Dlaas-Fort Worth area between January and March already owe more on their mortgage than the property is worth, according to a new report from Zillow.com.

Overall, 16.8 percent of area homeowners are in that situation, known as being under water. That is unchanged from the previous quarter, Zillow says. Zillow, a Web site for real estate research, said the average single-family home in North Texas is worth $129,155, off 7 percent from a year ago. But buyers are putting up bigger down payments to buy homes this year.

The median down payment is 8 percent; by contrast, the median for the past five years has been 5 percent. That brings the median amount of equity in a home bought this year to $27,258, up from $19,745 last year.

"The Dallas-Fort Worth area is not doing that bad compared to the rest of the country," said Katie Curnutte, a Zillow spokeswoman.