Homeowners age 62 and older added $97 billion in equity to their homes in the third quarter of 2014, an increase of about 2.53% compared to the second quarter, according to the National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association (NRMLA)/RiskSpan Reverse Mortgage Market Index (RMMI).
The increase means these homeowners now have more than $3.84 trillion in equity in their homes – more than at any time since 2007. The increase brought the RMMI score for the third quarter to 183.87. What's more, the third quarter marked the tenth straight quarter of RMMI growth. The index was benchmarked in 2000.
Americans age 62 and older had about $1.08 trillion in mortgage debt as of the third quarter, a figure that has held relatively steady since 2012. At the peak in the fourth quarter of 2009, seniors held $1.143 trillion in mortgage debt.