Housing Data 101: What is Negative Equity?
When a home falls in value to the point where it is worth less than the amount its owner owes on his mortgage, it falls into negative equity. This can happen in any economic downturn, regardless of severity or duration. But given both the unprecedented severity and duration of last decade’s downturn, negative equity grew like it was on steroids.
An Inventory Quandary: Three Theories for Why People Are Moving Less
The shift from single-family homes being owned to being rented has likely been an important contributing factor to low turnover. As rental homes, these properties are put up for sale less frequently – creating more options for renters and fewer for buyers.
February 2017 Market Report: Inventory Still Low as Home Shopping Season Begins
Median U.S. home values rose 6.9 percent in February compared to a year ago, the 55th consecutive month of annual home value growth and the 18th month in a row in which annual appreciation exceeded 5 percent, according to the February Zillow Real Estate Market Report.
Q3 2016 Negative Equity Report: Bottom Heavy
Negative equity continues to recede as home values keep rising and the market inches ever closer to fully, finally regaining all value lost during the recession. And crucially, as home value growth among less-expensive homes outpaces growth at the higher end, negative equity is falling at a faster clip among entry-level homes – the exact kinds of homes sought by all-important first-time home buyers.
Zillow Housing Confidence Index: Homeowners Got Swagger, But Buyers Increasingly Discouraged
Homeowners have a lot of swagger in today’s market, and for good reason – home values are rising, demand is high and homes are selling very quickly. But the same trends helping to buoy homeowner confidence are also proving increasingly discouraging for potential buyers, particularly among current renters, a critical imbalance that could have important impacts on the market going forward.
Q2 2016 Negative Equity Report: Why Cities and Suburbs Are Only Sometimes Impacted Similarly
At its worst, negative equity touched all kinds of homeowners in all kinds of markets. The type of community a given home was in – urban or suburban – mattered little. Fast-forward a few years, and the relative vibrancy of a given community and how it has performed over the past few years, and not necessarily its location in the city or suburbs, matters a great deal.
Negative Equity Falling Faster Among Less-Expensive Homes
The overall negative equity rate among bottom-tier homes nationwide was 21.8 percent in Q1, compared to 7.3 percent among top-tier homes, 11.4 percent for middle-tier homes and 12.7 percent for all U.S. homes.
