Property data curator ATTOM released its fourth quarter 2024 U.S. Home Equity & Underwater Report, which shows that 47.7 percent of mortgaged residential properties nationwide considered equity-rich in the fourth quarter, meaning that the combined estimated amount of loan balances secured by those properties was no more than half of their estimated market values.
That level was down slightly from 48.3 percent in the third quarter of 2024 and from a recent peak of 49.2 in the prior three-month period. However, it was still up from 46.1 percent in the fourth quarter of 2023 and remained at historically high levels that again showed one of the most profound benefits of the nation’s 13-year housing market boom.
The same holding pattern continued for the portion of home mortgages that were seriously underwater. Just 2.5 percent of mortgaged homes fell into that category during the fourth quarter of 2024, with combined estimated balances of loans secured by properties that were at least 25 percent more than those properties’ estimated market values. That was the same as in the third quarter and almost unchanged from the 2.6 percent level recorded in late-2023.
“The last few months of 2024 marked pretty much a holding pattern for the housing market. That’s typical for the slower Fall home buying season. But it certainly wasn’t a downer for homeowners across the country who are sitting on historically high levels of property equity thanks in large part to the endless increases in home values over more than a decade,” Rob Barber, CEO for ATTOM, said in a release. “Nearly half of all residential mortgage payers in the U.S. have paid off at least half their loans, leaving many with six-figures levels of wealth available to leverage anything from new home purchases to starting new businesses to paying off major expenses.”
“We are likely to see more of the same steady pace over the next few months before heading into the Spring buying season, which will say a lot about whether the housing market keeps roaring ahead and boosts home equity even further.”
Fourth-quarter equity trends emerged as the housing market continues to face mixed forces that could either stall it or propel it onward.
The portion of mortgaged homes that were equity-rich during the fourth quarter of 2024, 47.7 percent, remained far above the 26.5 percent level recorded in early 2020. While the latest figure was down in 33 of the 50 U.S. states from the third quarter to the fourth quarter of 2024, mostly by less than two percentage points, it was still up annually in 41 states.
Annual increases were spread across almost all regions and price segments of the U.S. housing market, with the most benefit going to low- and mid-priced markets around the country concentrated in the Midwest and Northeast regions. However, there were signs of that pattern as those areas absorbed slightly larger quarterly drop-offs reversing late in the year, ATTOM added.
The annual increases were led by Rhode Island (portion of mortgaged homes considered equity-rich increased from 54.6 percent in the fourth quarter of 2023 to 60.8 percent in the fourth quarter of 2024), Missouri (up from 37.3 percent to 43 percent), Connecticut (up from 42.4 percent to 47.9 percent), New Jersey (up from 46.8 percent to 52.3 percent) and Illinois (up from 28 percent to 33 percent).
On the opposite side of the spectrum, equity-rich levels generally declined slightly across western states. The largest year-over-year fallbacks during the fourth quarter came in Florida (down, year over year, from 54.3 percent to 50.9 percent), Utah (down from 53.7 percent to 51.1 percent), Arizona (down from 52.7 percent to 50.9 percent), Oregon (down from 51.2 percent to 49.6 percent) and Idaho (down from 57.6 percent to 56.1 percent).
The full report can be found here.