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260,000 Mortgaged Properties Regained Equity Between Q2 2017 and Q3 2017
The Number of Underwater Homes Decreased Year Over Year by 0.7 Million
2.5 Million Residential Properties with a Mortgage Still in Negative Equity
7.0 Percent of Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale Borrowers Remain in Negative Equity
IRVINE, Calif., December 7, 2017 – CoreLogic® (NYSE: CLGX), a leading global property information, analytics and data-enabled solutions provider, today released its Q3 2017 home equity analysis which shows that U.S. homeowners with mortgages (roughly 63 percent of all homeowners*) have collectively seen their equity increase 11.8 percent year over year, representing a gain of $870.6 billion since Q3 2016.
Additionally, homeowners gained an average of $14,888 in home equity between Q3 2016 and Q3 2017. Western states led the increase, while no state experienced a decrease. Washington homeowners gained an average of approximately $40,000 in home equity and California homeowners gained an average of approximately $37,000 in home equity (Figure 1).
On a quarter-over-quarter basis, from Q2 2017** to Q3 2017, the total number of mortgaged homes in negative equity decreased 9 percent to 2.5 million homes, or 4.9 percent of all mortgaged properties. Year over year, negative equity decreased 22 percent from 3.2 million homes, or 6.3 percent of all mortgaged properties, from Q3 2016 to Q3 2017.
“Homeowner equity increased by almost $871 billion over the last 12 months, the largest increase in more than three years,” said Dr. Frank Nothaft, chief economist for CoreLogic. “This increase is primarily a reflection of rising home prices, which drives up home values, leading to an increase in home equity positions and supporting consumer spending.”
Negative equity, often referred to as being “underwater” or “upside down,” applies to borrowers who owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth. Negative equity can occur because of a decline in a home’s value, an increase in mortgage debt or both.
Negative equity peaked at 26 percent of mortgaged residential properties in Q4 2009 based on CoreLogic equity data analysis, which began in Q3 2009.
The national aggregate value of negative equity was approximately $275.7 billion at the end of Q3 2017. This is down quarter over quarter by approximately $9.1 billion, or 3.2 percent, from $284.8 billion in Q2 2017 and down year over year by approximately $9.5 billion, or 3.3 percent, from $285.2 billion in Q3 2016.
“While homeowner equity is rising nationally, there are wide disparities by geography,” said Frank Martell, president and CEO of CoreLogic. “Hot markets like San Francisco, Seattle and Denver boast very high levels of increased home equity. However, some markets are lagging behind due to weaker economies or lingering effects from the great recession. These include large markets such as Miami, Las Vegas and Chicago, but also many small- and medium-sized markets such as Scranton, Pa. and Akron, Ohio.”
7.0 percent of Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale mortgages in negative equity
In Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, 67,018, or 7.0 percent, of all residential properties with a mortgage were in negative equity as of Q3 2017 compared with 97,670, or 10.4 percent, in Q3 2016 and 76,180, or 8.0 percent, in Q2 2017. An additional 17,369 properties, or 1.8 percent, were in near-negative equity (less than 5 percent equity) in Q3 2017 compared with 22,148, or 2.4 percent, in Q3 2016 and 18,908, or 2.0 percent, in Q2 2017.
*Homeownership mortgage source: 2016 American Community Survey.
**Q2 2017 data was revised. Revisions with public records data are standard, and to ensure accuracy, CoreLogic incorporates the newly released public data to provide updated results.
Q3 2017 Negative Equity Share for Select Metropolitan Areas
| Select Metropolitan Areas | Q3 2017 Negative Equity Share*** |
| Boston, MA | 3.7% |
| Chicago-Naperville-Arlington Heights, IL | 9.9% |
| Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, CO | 1.3% |
| Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX | 1.4% |
| Las Vegas-Henderson-Paradise, NV | 10.3% |
| Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale, CA | 2.0% |
| Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall, FL | 13.4% |
| New York-Jersey City-White Plains, NY-NJ | 5.2% |
| San Francisco-Redwood City-South San Francisco, CA | 0.6% |
| Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV | 6.6% |
***This data only includes properties with a mortgage. Non-mortgaged properties are, by definition, not included.
Select metropolitan areas are arranged in alphabetical order.
Source: CoreLogic Q3 2017
Source: CoreLogic Q3 2017
Vermont, West Virginia, Maine, Mississippi, South Dakota have insufficient equity data to report.
Q3 2017 Negative Equity by State****
| State | Negative Equity Share Q3 2017 | Average Equity Increase/Decrease Q3 2016 to Q3 2017 |
| National | 4.88% | 14,888 |
| Alaska | 1.71% | 6,032 |
| Alabama | 4.26% | 6,014 |
| Arkansas | 5.54% | 5,074 |
| Arizona | 7.22% | 12,923 |
| California | 3.18% | 37,061 |
| Colorado | 1.72% | 21,630 |
| Connecticut | 8.25% | 3,102 |
| District of Columbia | 3.50% | 9,017 |
| Delaware | 6.04% | 8,304 |
| Florida | 8.96% | 14,014 |
| Georgia | 4.61% | 11,636 |
| Hawaii | 1.66% | 44,827 |
| Iowa | 5.09% | 7,720 |
| Idaho | 2.54% | 18,113 |
| Illinois | 8.68% | 8,390 |
| Indiana | 2.43% | 6,916 |
| Kansas | 3.25% | 8,437 |
| Kentucky | 4.14% | 7,835 |
| Louisiana | 10.09% | 458 |
| Massachusetts | 4.36% | 25,329 |
| Maryland | 7.72% | 7,931 |
| Michigan | 6.22% | 13,224 |
| Minnesota | 3.26% | 12,453 |
| Missouri | 3.94% | 9,454 |
| Montana | 2.33% | 10,953 |
| North Carolina | 3.74% | 9,328 |
| North Dakota | 3.52% | 8,344 |
| Nebraska | 4.54% | 8,054 |
| New Hampshire | 5.19% | 14,002 |
| New Jersey | 7.62% | 10,644 |
| New Mexico | 4.45% | 2,838 |
| Nevada | 8.95% | 23,046 |
| New York | 4.63% | 11,251 |
| Ohio | 6.94% | 8,671 |
| Oklahoma | 4.91% | 2,549 |
| Oregon | 1.65% | 22,144 |
| Pennsylvania | 3.99% | 6,777 |
| Rhode Island | 7.53% | 16,296 |
| South Carolina | 4.14% | 8,554 |
| Tennessee | 3.71% | 10,560 |
| Texas | 1.49% | 8,896 |
| Utah | 1.51% | 24,830 |
| Virginia | 5.30% | 8,817 |
| Washington | 1.59% | 40,142 |
| Wisconsin | 5.69% | 9,612 |
| Wyoming | 2.98% | 18,827 |
Source: CoreLogic Q3 2017
Note: Maine, Mississippi, South Dakota, Vermont and West Virginia have insufficient equity data to report at this time.
****This data only includes properties with a mortgage. Non-mortgaged properties are, by definition, not included.
For ongoing housing trends and data, visit the CoreLogic Insights Blog: http://www.corelogic.com/blog.
Methodology
The amount of equity for each property is determined by comparing the estimated current value of the property against the mortgage debt outstanding (MDO). If the MDO is greater than the estimated value, then the property is determined to be in a negative equity position. If the estimated value is greater than the MDO, then the property is determined to be in a positive equity position. The data is first generated at the property level and aggregated to higher levels of geography. CoreLogic data includes more than 50 million properties with a mortgage, which accounts for more than 95 percent of all mortgages in the U.S. CoreLogic uses public record data as the source of the MDO, which includes both first-mortgage liens and second liens, and is adjusted for amortization and home equity utilization in order to capture the true level of MDO for each property. The calculations are not based on sampling, but rather on the full data set to avoid potential adverse selection due to sampling. The current value of the property is estimated using a suite of proprietary CoreLogic valuation techniques, including valuation models and the CoreLogic Home Price Index (HPI). In August 2016, the CoreLogic HPI was enhanced to include nearly one million additional repeat sales records from proprietary data sources that provide greater coverage in home price changes nationwide. The increased coverage is particularly useful in 14 non-disclosure states. Additionally, a new modeling methodology has been added to the HPI to weight outlier pairs, ensuring increased consistency and reducing month-over-month revisions. The use of the enhanced CoreLogic HPI was implemented with the Q2 2016 Equity report. Only data for mortgaged residential properties that have a current estimated value are included. There are several states or jurisdictions where the public record, current value or mortgage data coverage is thin and have been excluded from the analysis. These instances account for fewer than 5 percent of the total U.S. population.
Source: CoreLogic
The data provided is for use only by the primary recipient or the primary recipient’s publication or broadcast. This data may not be re-sold, republished or licensed to any other source, including publications and sources owned by the primary recipient’s parent company without prior written permission from CoreLogic. Any CoreLogic data used for publication or broadcast, in whole or in part, must be sourced as coming from CoreLogic, a data and analytics company. For use with broadcast or web content, the citation must directly accompany first reference of the data. If the data is illustrated with maps, charts, graphs or other visual elements, the CoreLogic logo must be included on screen or web site. For questions, analysis or interpretation of the data contact Lori Guyton at lguyton@cvic.com or Bill Campbell at bill@campbelllewis.com. Data provided may not be modified without the prior written permissio n of CoreLogic. Do not use the data in any unlawful manner. This data is compiled from public records, contributory databases and proprietary analytics, and its accuracy depends upon these sources.
About CoreLogic
CoreLogic (NYSE: CLGX) is a leading global property information, analytics and data-enabled solutions provider. The company’s combined data from public, contributory and proprietary sources includes over 4.5 billion records spanning more than 50 years, providing detailed coverage of property, mortgages and other encumbrances, consumer credit, tenancy, location, hazard risk and related performance information. The markets CoreLogic serves include real estate and mortgage finance, insurance, capital markets, and the public sector. CoreLogic delivers value to clients through unique data, analytics, workflow technology, advisory and managed services. Clients rely on CoreLogic to help identify and manage growth opportunities, improve performance and mitigate risk. Headquartered in Irvine, Calif., CoreLogic operates in North America, Western Europe and Asia Pacific. For more information, please visit www.corelogic.c om.
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