4 Million Homes Return to Positive Equity

4 Million Homes Return to Positive Equity

Many home owners had a return of equity in their homes last year due to rising home prices. 4 million homes returned to positive equity in 2013, this brought the total up to 42.7 million.

Of those 42.7 million homes with positive equity- around 21.1% of them have less than 20% equity. More than 1.6 million homes have less than 5% equity.

Around 13.3% of residential properties- 6.5 million homes- stayed in negative equity by the end of 2013.

Mark Fleming, a chief economist for CoreLogic commented, “The plight of the underwater borrower has improved dramatically since negative equity peaked in December 2009 when more than 12 million mortgaged home owners were underwater. Over the past four years, more than 5.5 million home owners have regained equity, reducing their risk of foreclosure and unlocking pent-up supply in the housing market.”

For properties with a mortgage, the bulk of home equity is concentrated at the higher-end of the housing market. 92% of homes valued at more than $200,000 have equity, compared to 81% of homes less than $200,000 have equity.

There are five states that account for almost 37% of negative equity in the U.S. The five states with the highest percentage of mortgaged property in negative equity are:

1. Nevada- 30.4%

2. Florida- 28.1%

3. Arizona- 21.5%

4. Ohio- 19%

5. Illinois- 18.7%