Core Logic Home Equity Report

CoreLogic has released a national overview report for the first quarter of the current equity status of residential homes. It’s a long report with a lot of graphing, but we can take a look at some summary bullet points of data that are interesting.

• Price gains are improving the equity picture in many areas of the country. 850,000 properties returned to positive equity in the first quarter of 2013.
• Of residential properties with a mortgage, 9.7 million are still in a negative equity situation.
• That 9.7 million properties represents roughly 19.8% of the total market, but is down from 21.7 percent at the end of 2012.
• Negative equity is $580 billion, representing 8.7% of aggregate valuation.
• During the past year, 1.7 million borrowers regained a positive equity position.
• “Under-equitied” borrowers, those with less than 20% in equity represent 23% of the market, or 11.2 million homes.
• 2.1 million borrowers, or 4.4% are currently in a less than 5% equity situation.
• The average loan-to-value for all mortgaged homes is currently 67.2%.
• The average amount of equity for all homes with a mortgage is 32.8%.
• Equity is heavily weighted at the higher end of the market, with 88.0% of more expensive homes holding equity, while only 73% of homes under $200,000 are holding some equity.
• The top five states where mortgaged properties have negative equity are:
o Nevada at 45.4%
o Florida at 38.1%
o Michigan at 32.0%
o Arizona at 31.3%
o Georgia at 30.5%
• The top five states where mortgaged properties have positive equity are:
o Montana at 94.4%
o North Dakota at 94.1%
o Alaska at 93.9%
o Texas at 92.8%
o Wyoming at 92.6%

It is obvious that markets are improving across the country, but there are still areas that have a long way to go to reach acceptable equity percentages.