Due to a combination of mortgage defaults, modifications, thrift and a sustained rebound in house prices, U.S. homeowners’ equity was $12.4 trillion (56.7 percent of home values) as of September. The figure is the highest since 2006, just before the housing bubble burst.
Bloomberg View reports that in 2009, equity (the difference between property value and mortgage debt owed) was at its all-time low of $6.2 trillion, just 37 percent of home values.
Of course, these marks are quite different from the early 1950s, when equity was roughly 80 percent of total property value.
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