U.S. HOMEOWNER EQUITY REMAINS ELEVATED BUT DIPS DOWNWARD AGAIN IN FIRST QUARTER
IRVINE, Calif., May 9, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- ATTOM, a leading curator of land, property, and real estate data, today released its first-quarter 2024 U.S. Home Equity & Underwater Report, which shows that 45.8 percent of mortgaged residential properties in the United States were considered equity-rich in the first quarter, meaning that the combined estimated amount of loan balances secured by those properties was no more than half of their estimated market values.
- The latest figure also was down from 47.2 percent in the first quarter of 2023, hitting the lowest point in two years.
- When prices flatten out or drop, equity usually follows even as homeowners pay off mortgages.
- Measured annually, equity-rich levels dropped from the first quarter of 2023 to the same period this year in 25 states.
- Equity-rich: Loan to value ratio of 50 percent or lower, meaning the property owner had at least 50 percent equity.