One in four homes with a mortgage in the U.S. were considered equity rich in the fourth quarter of 2019, according to newly released data from ATTOM Data Solutions, a real estate data firm. That means the loans on those properties are 50% or less of the home’s estimated market value.
The Northeast and West saw the highest amounts of equity among homeowners. California led, with 42.8% of its homeowners considered equity rich, followed by Vermont (39.2%) and Hawaii (38.8%).
On the other hand, several cities are also still facing a large amount of underwater properties—those that are worth less than the mortgage. The states with the highest share of mortgages that are considered seriously underwater in the fourth quarter were all in the South and Midwest. Louisiana had the highest at 16.8% seriously underwater, followed by Mississippi at 16% and West Virginia at 13.9%. On a metro level, the highest share of mortgages that were seriously underwater were in Youngstown, Ohio at 16.2%; Baton Rouge, La., at 15.9%; and Scranton, Pa., at 15%.
Source: ATTOM Data Solutions
