About 17.8 million residential properties in the U.S. with a mortgage were considered equity-rich in the fourth quarter of 2020, according to a new report from ATTOM Data Solutions, a real estate data firm. That means the combined estimated amount of loans secured by those properties was 50% or less of their estimated market value.
But some areas are seeing home equity grow faster than others. Overall, six of the 10 states with the biggest gains in the share of equity-rich homes from the third quarter to the fourth quarter of 2020 were in the West, led by California and Montana.
A closer look at the data drilled down by ZIP codes, however, shows equity-rich pockets spread across the country. The following chart reflects ZIP codes in the fourth quarter of 2020 that saw the largest improvements in its equity-rich share of homes compared to the third quarter of 2020.
Source: ATTOM Data Solutions