Home equity continued to rise in the first quarter of 2024 as residential properties with mortgages collectively gained $1.5 trillion in equity over the past year, according to a CoreLogic report released Friday.
The average U.S. homeowner with a mortgage added $28,000 in equity during the year ending in March 2024 — the highest year-over-year increase since late 2022. Three states — California (+$64,000), Massachusetts (+$61,000) and New Jersey (+$59,000) — saw increases that were more than double the national average.
The $1.5 trillion gain in U.S. home equity over the past year brought total net equity to more than $17 trillion at the end of Q1 2024. Mortgaged properties account for 62% of all residential homes in the U.S., according to CoreLogic.
“With home prices continuing to reach new highs, owners are also seeing their equity approach the historic peaks of 2023, close to a total of $305,000 per owner,” Selma Hepp, chief economist at CoreLogic, said in a statement. “Importantly, higher prices have also lifted some 190,000 homeowners out of negative equity, leaving only about 1.8% of those with mortgages underwater.”
