While plenty of things slowed to a halt in 2020, home values continued to rise. New numbers from CoreLogic not only highlight major gains, but also new records.
The average homeowner with a mortgage gained 19.6 percent—or $33,400— in equity in the first quarter of 2021. That jump represents the highest annual gain per borrower in a decade!
Some of the largest gains in equity, of course, took place right here in California, with an average of $70,000 equity gain. Additionally, West Coast states including Washington, Idaho and Utah also saw large equity bumps.
“Homeowner equity has more than doubled over the past decade and become a crucial buffer for many weathering the challenges of the pandemic,” Frank Martell, president and CEO of CoreLogic, said in a statement. “These gains have become an important financial tool and boosted consumer confidence in the U.S. housing market, especially for older homeowners and baby boomers who’ve experienced years of price appreciation.”
The year-over-year growth from the first quarter of 2020 to the first quarter of 2021 amount to a combined equity gain of over $1.9 trillion.
“The national CoreLogic Home Price Index recorded an 11.4 percent rise in the year through March 2021, leading to a $216,000 increase in the average amount of equity held by homeowners with a mortgage,” said Dr. Frank Nothaft, chief economist for CoreLogic. “This reduces the likelihood for a large numbers of distressed sales of homeowners to emerge from forbearance later in the year.”