Homeowner Equity Increased $63 Billion in Fourth Quarter 2016

• The national negative equity share fell to 6.2 percent in Q4 2016.
• All states saw a decrease in negative equity share over the past year.
• Florida saw the largest improvement in negative equity share over the past year, falling 4.9 percentage points.

The amount of equity in mortgaged real estate increased by $63 billion in Q4 2016 compared with Q3 2016, and increased by $783 billion between Q4 2015 and Q4 2016, according to the latest CoreLogic Equity Report. The nationwide negative equity share for Q4 2016 was 6.2 percent of all homes with a mortgage, nearly 20 percentage points lower than the peak negative equity share – 26 percent – recorded in Q4 2009.[1]

The improvement in negative equity has been seen across the U.S., with all states registering a year-over-year decrease in negative equity share. Figure 1 shows the 25 states with the largest percentage-point change in the negative equity share from the previous year. Florida’s 4.9-percentage-point decrease between Q4 2015 and Q4 2016 represented the nation’s largest decline. Florida’s negative equity share was 50.9 percent at its peak in Q4 2009 and was 11.6 percent in Q4 2016. Of all states, Nevada has seen the largest improvement in negative equity share over the last six years. From a high of 72.7 percent in Q1 2010 the state’s negative equity share had fallen to 13.7 percent in Q4 2016.

Figure 2 shows the average dollar amount of negative equity and the negative equity share for 10 large Core Based Statistical Areas (CBSAs) in Q4 2016. The average amount of negative equity is inversely related to the negative equity share. For example, in this group of CBSAs, Denver has the largest average amount of negative equity, but the negative equity share is only 1.5 percent, and Phoenix has the smallest average amount of negative equity, but has a negative equity share that is well above the national average.

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