Price appreciation for millions of U.S. homeowners may have slowed, according to recent stats, but the average owner with a mortgage has added a healthy $28,000 to their equity year-over-year in Q1.
New data from CoreLogic shows that aggregate home equity increased by $1.5 trillion during the first three months of the year to a near record high of more than $17 trillion and boosting the average equity for homeowners with mortgages to $305,000 per owner. The latest increase was close to 10% nationwide.
In the most expensive states, the year-over-year increase in home equity in the first quarter was well-above the average. An average homeowner with a mortgage in California gained $64K while those in the Los Angeles metro averaged $72K. New Jersey saw an average $59K increase and led the gains in the Northeast, where most of the large rises were seen.
“Importantly, higher prices have also lifted some 190,000 homeowners out of negative equity, leaving only about 1.8% of those with mortgages underwater,” said Dr. Selma Hepp, chief economist for CoreLogic. “Home equity is key to mortgage holders who have seen other homeownership costs soar, including insurance, taxes and HOA fees, as a source of financial buffer.”
In the first quarter of 2024 the number of U.S. homes in negative equity was 1.2 million, down 16% from a year earlier and representing 2% of all mortgaged homes nationwide.
Prices continued to rise in the first three months of 2024 with the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Index hitting a new all-time high in March following gains of 6% in January and 6.4% in February. March matched February’s rate and the gains were led by an 11% rise in San Diego.
“We’ve witnessed records repeatedly break in both stock and housing markets over the past year. Our National Index has reached new highs in six of the last 12 months. During that time, we’ve seen record stock market performance, with the S&P 500 hitting fresh all-time highs for 35 trading days in the past year,” said Brian D. Luke, Head of Commodities, Real & Digital Assets at S&P Dow Jones Indices.
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