As of the end of the first quarter, U.S. homeowners had gained a collective $3.8 trillion in equity compared with the first quarter of 2021, according to CoreLogic’s Homeowner Equity Report (HER).
What’s more, the share of homeowners in negative equity fell to a new low, decreasing year over year by 23%.
U.S. homeowners with mortgages account for roughly 62% of all properties, CoreLogic estimates. These homeowners have seen their combined equity increase by 32.2% year over year, representing a collective equity gain of $3.8 trillion, and an average gain of $63,600 per borrower, since the first quarter of 2021.
U.S. home prices have surged an average 20% during the past year.
“Price growth is the key ingredient for the creation of home equity wealth,” explains Patrick Dodd, president and CEO at CoreLogic. “Home prices were up by 20 percent in March compared to one year earlier in CoreLogic’s national Home Price Index. This has led to the largest one-year gain in average home equity wealth for owners and is expected to spur a record amount of home-improvement spending this year.”
