By Diana Olick | CNBC
Higher home prices may be frustrating potential homebuyers, but they are funneling a strong new flow of “tappable” cash into homeowners’ pockets.
How much: $260 billion in additional home equity just in the first quarter of this year. With that increase, 38 million borrowers now have at least 20 percent equity in their homes — averaging about $116,000 per borrower, according to Black Knight Financial Services. That is a far cry from just 24 million who had that much equity when home prices finally hit bottom at the start of 2012.
