CoreLogic has released its third-quarter 2024 Homeowner Equity Report (HER), revealing that homeowners with mortgages saw their collective home equity increase by $425 billion year over year.
That equates to an annual gain of 2.5%, bringing total net homeowner equity to more than $17.5 trillion. Put another way, the average homeowner saw their equity rise by roughly $5,700 over the past year.
But while homeowners continue to see their equity grow, the rate of that growth has slowed considerably. Consider that in the second quarter, American homeowners collectively saw their equity rise by 8%, equating to an uptick of some $25,000.
“As home prices flattened in the third quarter, home equity gains also slowed, even declined in some regions of the country,” said Selma Hepp, chief economist at CoreLogic. “While home equity closely depends on home price changes, equity losses are also tied to natural disaster events since households can lose a lot of their equity following a catastrophe, particularly if not property insured. As a result, following Maui’s 2023 devastating wildfire, Hawaii now tops the list with largest decline in home equity.”
Despite an average year-over-year equity loss of about $34,000, Hawaii still tops all states in average homeowner equity at $700,000. Nationwide, average homeowner equity is still near an all-time high at over $311,000. The largest average national equity gains were seen in the Northeast, led by Rhode Island (where homeowners gained about $43,000 over the past year), New Jersey ($43,000) and New York ($37,000).
The share of homes with negative equity, meanwhile, increased quarter over quarter for the first time since Q4 2022. The count of homes that fell into negative equity rose by 1.8% (about 30,000 homes) in the third quarter, bringing the total number to approximately 1 million residential properties. The national aggregate value of negative equity was about $324 billion at the end of the third quarter, up 1% (roughly $4.3 billion) from one quarter prior and 3% (roughly $9.1 billion) from one year ago.
