Home Equity Continues Growing in Q1 2021

Key Highlight

• Market remains resistant to pandemic
• Equity-rich homes up +31.9%; seriously underwater homes below 5%

One in Three Homes Equity Rich in Q1 2021

According to the latest Q1 2021 US Home Equity & Underwater Report by ATTOM Data Solutions, 17.8M residential properties in the US were considered equity-rich.  The now total of $7.3T in home equity is a record high.

These 17.8M residential properties represent some 31.9% of the 55.8M mortgaged homes during Q1 2021.  This 31.9% is an improvement from 30.2% in Q4 2020, 28.3% in Q3 2020 and 26.5% in Q1 2020.

In other words, homeowners in the US have been “fending off” damaging economic arrows caused by the COVID pandemic.

One in 21 Homes Considered Under Water

ATTOM’s Q1 2021 US Home Equity & Underwater report also indicated that only 2.6M or one in 21 mortgaged homes were considered seriously underwater during Q1 2021.

This 2.6M represents 4.7% of all mortgages properties in the US.  This 4.7% is also improvement over Q4 2020 at 5.4%, 6% in Q4 2020 and 6.6% in Q1 2020.

Improvement at Both Ends of Equity Scale

Todd Teta, ATTOM’s chief product officer, said, “It continues to be a great time to be a homeowner most everywhere in the country.  The ongoing price spikes we’re seeing help to cut down the number of seriously underwater properties and boost the level of equity-rich properties.”

Western & Northeastern States Improve the Most in Equity-Rich Share of Homes

Nine of the ten states with the largest gains in the share of equity-rich homes during Q4 2020 to Q1 2021 were either Western or Northeastern states. Idaho was the leader in this equity-rich share…up from 42.7% in Q4 2020 to 50.6% in Q1 2021.

Utah, Colorado, Vermont and Washington came in second, third, fourth and fifth.

States with Largest Decreases

West Virginia earned this unwanted distinction by experiencing its share of equity-rich homes decrease the most…down from 21.6% to 19.5% in Q1 2021.

Louisiana, Pennsylvania, Iowa and Mississippi trailed West Virginia in that order.

At Least 50% of Equity-Rich Properties in 883 Zip Codes

Among the 8,267 zip codes in the US, 883 of them had at least 50% mortgaged properties considered to be equity-rich.

44 of the top 50 equity-rich counties were in California.  San Francisco Bay Area counties dominated.

South and Midwest Had Highest Shares of Seriously Underwater Properties.

Louisiana had the most with 13%, West Virginia with 10.5%, Illinois with 10.4%, Arkansas with 9.2% and Mississippi with 9.1%

States with the lowest shares of seriously underwater properties included Oregon at 1.8%, California at 1.9%, Arizona at 2%, Washington at 2.1% and Utah tied at 2.1%.

Thanks to ATTOM Data Solutions.

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