“Inequality may have improved in recent years because of the increase in home prices, the rising homeownership rate, the stock market’s steady ascent and recent policy changes that have reduced tax burdens and made it easier to save for retirement. Unfortunately, the pandemic has likely offset these changes – and especially for lower-income individuals working in jobs adversely impacted in the last nine months.” --John C. Weicher, author of a new Research Institute for Housing America report and Director for the Center for Housing and Financial Markets at the Hudson Institute.

CoreLogic, Irvine, Calif., said U.S. homeowners with mortgages saw their equity increase by 10.8% year over year in the third quarter—a collective equity gain of $1 trillion and an average gain of $17,000 per homeowner.