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(Mainebiz) –
By: William Hall
A growing percentage of U.S. homeowners are coming up for air — that is, their mortgages are not “underwater” — and Mainers have surfaced more than almost anyone in the country.
Those are some of the findings from a new report on home equity status, published Thursday by ATTOM, a real estate data bank based in California. The results of the firm’s analysis for the second quarter of the year show 49.2% of mortgaged residential properties in the U.S. were considered equity-rich, meaning their loan balances were no more than half of the properties’ market values.
The share of mortgaged homes that are equity-rich was up from 45.8% in the first quarter and reversed a series of three straight quarterly declines, according to ATTOM. The firm does not disclose the exact numbers of properties in its analysis.
In Maine during the second quarter, 61.5% of mortgaged homes were equity-rich, ranking the state No. 2 among those with the largest percentages. Only Vermont, where the portion was 83.5%, ranked higher.
In Greater Portland, the share was 65.1%, and that was fifth-highest among the levels for 107 U.S. metro areas that were analyzed by ATTOM. San Jose, Calif., where 70.4% of homes were equity-rich, ranked No. 1.
The smallest level for a metro area nationwide was Baton Rouge, La., where just 17.5% of homes represented more equity than debt. The metro analysis compared urban areas throughout the U.S. with a population of at least 500,000.
“Homeowner wealth took a notable turn for the better during the second quarter as equity levels piggybacked on some of the biggest home-price spikes we’ve seen in recent years,” said Rob Barber, CEO for ATTOM.
“After a period where equity seemed stagnant or even declining, this brought another boost of good news for homeowners from the enduring housing market boom.”