Slightly more than one in four of the 54.5 million mortgaged homes in the U.S. in the fourth quarter were equity-rich properties, according to a report from ATTOM Data Solutions.
ATTOM’s 2019 U.S. Home Equity & Underwater Report found that the combined estimated amount of loans secured by 14.5 million residential properties (26.7 percent) in the United States in the fourth quarter was 50 percent or less of their estimated market value.
The report said 3.5 million (6.4 percent), or one in 16, mortgaged homes in the fourth quarter of 2019 were considered seriously underwater, with a combined estimated balance of loans secured by the property at least 25 percent more than the property’s estimated market value.
“Homeownership continued boosting household balance sheets across the United States in the fourth quarter of 2019, as people paying off mortgages were much more likely to be in equity-rich territory than seriously underwater,” ATTOM Chief Product Officer Todd Teta said in a release. “That marked yet another sign of how much the country has benefited from an eight-year housing-market boom.
“Some big gaps in equity levels persist between regions and market segments,” Teta said. “But as home values keep climbing, financial resources keep building for homeowners, which provides them with leverage to make home repairs, help their children through college or take on other major expenses.”
According to the report, the states with the highest share of equity-rich properties in the fourth quarter were California (42.8 percent equity-rich); Vermont (39.2 percent); Hawaii (38.8 percent); Washington (35.4 percent); and New York (35.1 percent).
ATTOM said the states with the lowest percentage of equity-rich properties were Louisiana (13.6 percent equity-rich); Oklahoma (14.9 percent); Illinois (15.3 percent); Arkansas (16.3 percent); and Alabama (16.5 percent).
The report identified the metropolitan areas with the highest percentage of equity-rich properties as San Jose, Calif. (65.9 percent equity-rich); San Francisco (57.5 percent); Los Angeles (47.8 percent); Santa Rosa, Calif. (45.9 percent); and Honolulu, Hawaii (39.3 percent).
The metropolitan areas with the lowest percentage of equity-rich properties were Baton Rouge, La. (10.8 percent equity-rich); Little Rock, Ark. (13.4 percent); Tulsa, Okla. (13.7 percent); Columbia, S.C. (13.9 percent) and Akron, Ohio (14.6 percent).