CoreLogic: Homeowner Equity Continues to Increase
(Image courtesy of CoreLogic)
CoreLogic, Irvine, Calif., released its Homeowner Equity Insights report for the second quarter, finding that U.S. homeowners with mortgages saw their overall equity increase by 8% year-over-year.
Overall, the equity for those homeowners has increased by a total of $1.3 trillion from Q2 2023. That brings total net homeowner equity to more than $17.6 trillion.
“Persistent home price growth has continued to fuel home equity gains for existing homeowners who now average about $315,000 in equity and almost $129,000 more than at the onset of the pandemic. The substantial accumulation of home equity for existing homeowners has served as an important financial buffer in times of uncertainty, as some homeowners are facing higher costs of homeowners’ insurance and taxes and have had to tap into their equity to prevent falling behind on their mortgages,” said Selma Hepp, Chief Economist for CoreLogic. “As a result, mortgage delinquency rates have remained at historical lows despite the inflationary pressures and higher costs of almost all non-mortgage, homeownership-related expenses.”
The average U.S. homeowner gained approximately $25,000 in equity over the past year. Maine (average increase of $58,000); California (average increase of $55,000) and New Jersey (average increase of $53,000) saw the largest gains. Three states saw annual equity losses–Texas, at $3,000 on average, Oklahoma, at $8,000 on average, and North Dakota, also at $8,000 on average.
The total number of mortgaged residential properties with negative equity fell by 4.2% from Q1, to about 960,000 homes total. That represents about 1.7% of all mortgaged properties.
Year-over-year, national negative equity was down by 15%, or about 169,000 fewer homes.
The national aggregate value of negative equity was approximately $318 billion at the end of the second quarter.
That’s down from Q1 by 1%, or approximately $3.7 billion. It’s also down year-over-year by about $19.7 billion, or 6%.