Nationally, we’re seeing the smallest home equity gains in 2 years, according to CoreLogic. Between Q3 2017 and Q3 2018, the average homeowner with a mortgage “pocketed” a gain of $12,400 in home equity, down from $16,000 in annual gains during Q2 2018 and the smallest gain in two years. (CoreLogic calculated price appreciation and paying down the mortgage into these figures.)
According to Black Knight, the drop in home equity gains during Q3 2018 was the steepest during 2018. Still, the average homeowner had approximately $136,000 to tap in Q3, approximately $2,300 less to tap in home equity during Q2 2018.
The country’s Western states saw larger gains:
- California – $36,5000
- Nevada – $32,600
Despite California’s rise in home equity during Q3 2018, the Golden State accounted for nearly 75% of the decline in tap-able equity as home values dropped from quarter to quarter during 2018. Instead of home values gaining close to 7% as they were a few years ago, home values grew 5.4% in October 2018.
San Jose, San Francisco and Los Angeles all had net reductions and Seattle filled out the complement of the two-thirds net reduction in tap-able equity. The reason? Decreased gains in home valuations reduced prices and reduced home equity gains.
According to Dr. Frank Nothaft, chief economist with CoreLogic, “This lower y/y gain reflects a slowing in (home) appreciation that we’ve seen in the CL Home price Index. “
Additionally, according to Ben Graboske, executive vide president of Black K night’s Data and Analytics Division, “…affordability concerns are beginning to have an impact on home prices…and…as a result, an impact on home equity as well.”
The total amount in home equity during Q3 2018 was $9.8T. Of that $9.8T, $5.9T was tap-able.
Only $64B in home equity was withdrawn during Q3 2018 despite the fact that third quarters are usually the most popular time to withdraw equity. This $64B represents just 1.06% of all available equity, and nearly the lowest amount of equity ever withdrawn.
Home equity fell in North Dakota, Louisiana and Connecticut during Q3 2018.
