As Home Prices Rise, US Homeowner Equity Reaches New High in Q2 2024

While high home prices are a burden to prospective buyers, elevated home prices are causing homeowners’ equity to rise. According to a recent report from ATTOM, a provider of real estate data, 49.2% of U.S. mortgaged residential properties were equity-rich in Q2 2024, meaning their loan balances were no more than half of their market values. This is an increase from 45.8% in Q1 2024, reversing three consecutive quarterly declines and marking one of the biggest gains in five years. The rise in home equity is attributed to a 9% increase in home prices during the Spring buying season, setting a new median national price record of $365,000. 

The biggest quarterly increases came in lower-priced markets, mainly across the South and Midwest regions, led by Kentucky (where the portion of mortgaged homes considered equity-rich increased from 28.7 percent in the first quarter of 2024 to 37.4 percent in the second quarter of 2024), Illinois (up from 28.3 percent to 36.1 percent), Missouri (up from 38.3 percent to 45.5 percent), Oklahoma (up from 28.1 percent to 34.5 percent) and Alabama (up from 35.7 percent to 41.9 percent).

Read more