IE Business Daily Business news for the Inland Empire.
U.S. homeowners with mortgages saw their equity increase an average of 6.5 percent during the first quarter of this year compared with the first quarter of 2019, according to data.
Nationwide, homes with outstanding mortgages – about 63 percent of the market – have gained roughly $590 billion in equity since the first quarters of 2019, Irvine-based CoreLogic reported.
Negative equity – meaning borrowers who owe more on their mortgages than the home worth – dropped 16 percent year-over-year during the first quarter, to 1.8 million homes.
The full impact of COVID-19 on home equity won’t be known until the next quarterly report, which will include data for April and May.
“The pandemic recession will likely lead to price declines in many areas during the next year and weaken home equity gains,” said Frank Nothaft, CoreLogic’s chief economist, in a statement. “However, price declines will be far less than those experienced during the Great Recession, when the home price index fell 33 percent peak-to-trough.”
For COVID-19, CoreLogic is predicting a high-to-low decline of 1.5 percent, Nothaft said.
Inland Empire home equity data was not released.
