CoreLogic Reports Homeowner Equity Increased by Almost $871 Billion in Q3 2017

December 07, 2017, Irvine, Calif. – CoreLogic®, a leading global property information, analytics and data-enabled solutions provider, today released its Q3 2017 home equity analysis which shows that U.S. homeowners with mortgages (roughly 63 percent of all homeowners*) have collectively seen their equity increase 11.8 percent year over year, representing a gain of $870.6 billion since Q3 2016.

Additionally, homeowners gained an average of $14,888 in home equity between Q3 2016 and Q3 2017. Western states led the increase, while no state experienced a decrease. Washington homeowners gaining an average of approximately $40,000 in home equity and California homeowners gaining an average of approximately $37,000 in home equity (Figure 1).

On a quarter-over-quarter basis, from Q2 2017** to Q3 2017, the total number of mortgaged homes in negative equity decreased 9 percent to 2.5 million homes, or 4.9 percent of all mortgaged properties. Year over year, negative equity decreased 22 percent from 3.2 million homes, or 6.3 percent of all mortgaged properties, from Q3 2016 to Q3 2017.

"Homeowner equity increased by almost $871 billion over the last 12 months, the largest increase in more than three years," said Dr. Frank Nothaft, chief economist for CoreLogic. "This increase is primarily a reflection of rising home prices, which drives up home values, leading to an increase in home equity positions and supporting consumer spending."

Negative equity, often referred to as being "underwater" or "upside down," applies to borrowers who owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth. Negative equity can occur because of a decline in a home’s value, an increase in mortgage debt or both.

Negative equity peaked at 26 percent of mortgaged residential properties in Q4 2009 based on CoreLogic equity data analysis, which began in Q3 2009.

The national aggregate value of negative equity was approximately $275.7 billion at the end of Q3 2017. This is down quarter over quarter by approximately $9.1 billion, or 3.2 percent, from $284.8 billion in Q2 2017 and down year over year by approximately $9.5 billion, or 3.3 percent, from $285.2 billion in Q3 2016.

"While homeowner equity is rising nationally, there are wide disparities by geography," said Frank Martell, president and CEO of CoreLogic. "Hot markets like San Francisco, Seattle and Denver boast very high levels of increased home equity. However, some markets are lagging behind due to weaker economies or lingering effects from the great recession. These include large markets such as Miami, Las Vegas and Chicago, but also many small- and medium-sized markets such as Scranton, Pa. and Akron, Ohio."

*Homeownership mortgage source: 2016 American Community Survey.

**Q2 2017 data was revised. Revisions with public records data are standard, and to ensure accuracy, CoreLogic incorporates the newly released public data to provide updated results.

For ongoing housing trends and data, visit the CoreLogic Insights Blog: http://www.corelogic.com/blog.

About CoreLogic

CoreLogic (NYSE: CLGX) is a leading global property information, analytics and data-enabled solutions provider. The company's combined data from public, contributory and proprietary sources includes over 4.5 billion records spanning more than 50 years, providing detailed coverage of property, mortgages and other encumbrances, consumer credit, tenancy, location, hazard risk and related performance information. The markets CoreLogic serves include real estate and mortgage finance, insurance, capital markets, and the public sector. CoreLogic delivers value to clients through unique data, analytics, workflow technology, advisory and managed services. Clients rely on CoreLogic to help identify and manage growth opportunities, improve performance and mitigate risk. Headquartered in Irvine, Calif., CoreLogic operates in North America, Western Europe and Asia Pacific. For more information, please visit www.corelogic.com.