CoreLogic analysis shows U.S. homeowners with mortgages (roughly 63 percent of all properties*) have seen their equity increase by a total of $908.4 billion since the fourth quarter 2016, an increase of 12.2 percent, year over year.
*Homeownership mortgage source: 2016 American Community Survey.
Homeowners Emerge from the Negative Equity Trap
In the fourth quarter 2017, the total number of mortgaged residential properties with negative equity decreased 1 percent from the third quarter 2017* to 2.5 million homes, or 4.9 percent of all mortgaged properties. Compared to the fourth quarter 2016, negative equity decreased 21percent from 3.2 million homes, or 6.3 percent of all mortgaged properties.
The national aggregate value of negative equity was approximately $283.1 billion at the end of the fourth quarter of 2017. This is up quarter over quarter by approximately $5.7 billion (or 2.1 percent), from $277.4 billion in the third quarter of 2017 and down year over year by approximately $3.2 billion (or 1.1 percent), from $286.3 billion in the fourth quarter of 2016.
Negative equity peaked at 26 percent of mortgaged residential properties in the fourth quarter of 2009, based on the CoreLogic equity data analysis which began in the third quarter of 2009.
National Homeowner Equity
In the fourth quarter 2017, the average homeowner gained approximately $15,100 in equity during the past year. California had the highest year-over-year average increase at $44,500. No states posted a decrease.