CoreLogic, a residential property, information, analytics and services provider, released a new analysis showing approximately 2.5 million more residential properties returned to a state of positive equity during the second quarter of 2013. The total number of mortgaged residential properties with equity currently stands at 41.5 million. The analysis shows that 7.1 million homes, or 14.5 percent of all residential properties with a mortgage, were still in negative equity at the end of the second quarter of 2013. This figure is down from 906 million homes, or 19.7 percent of all residential properties with a mortgage, at the end of the first quarter of 2013.
The national aggregate value of negative equity was $428 billion at the end of the second quarter compared to $576 billion at the end of the first quarter of 2013, a decrease of more than $148 million. The decrease was driven in large part by an improvement in home prices.
Of the 41.5 million residential properties with positive equity, 10.3 million have less than 20 percent equity. Borrowers with less than 20 percent equity, referred to as “under-equitied,” may have a more difficult time obtaining new financing for their homes due to underwriting constraints. Under-equitied mortgages accounted for 21.1 percent of all residential properties with a mortgage nationwide in the second quarter of 2013. At the end of second quarter of 2013, 1.7 million residential properties had less than 5 percent equity, referred to as near-negative equity. Properties that are near negative equity are at risk should home prices fall.