A new report from CoreLogic shows that more than 250,000 properties regained equity in the first quarter of 2015, with borrower equity up $694 billion in the first quarter from a year earlier.
The move puts about 44.9 million residential properties, or about 90 percent of all mortgaged properties, into the equity category in 2015. Properties with negative equity, or those underwater, fell to 5.1 million from 5.4 million in the fourth quarter of 2014, a drop of 4.7 percent.
“About 90 percent of homeowners now have housing equity and, as a result, have experienced an increase in wealth, which can spur additional consumption and investment expenditures,” CoreLogic Chief Economist Frank Nothaft said. “The remaining 10 percent of owners with negative equity will find their home value rising while they continue to pay down principal on their amortizing mortgage loan.”
Of the more than 50 million residential properties with a mortgage, 9.7 million, or 19.4 percent, have less than 20-percent equity (referred to as “under-equitied”). A total of 1.3 million, or 2.7 percent, have less than 5-percent equity (referred to as near-negative equity).