Q4 2016 Negative Equity Report: Improvement Continues, But at a Much Slower Rate
The annual pace at which negative equity receded slowed dramatically in 2016, further proof that even as the housing market continues to put the boom and bust behind it, some scars will take a lot longer to heal.
Homes in Black Neighborhoods Twice as Likely to be Underwater as Homes in White Neighborhoods
Nationwide and in a number of large metro markets, the negative equity rate in largely black communities is double or more the rate in majority white communities. The disparities reflect the wide gulf that exists between white America and communities of color and their very different experiences throughout the housing boom, bust and recovery.
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.
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.
Q1 2016 Negative Equity Report: Rust Belt Overtakes Sand States as Nation’s Nest of Negative Equity
As negative equity overall continues to fall, the epicenter of underwater homeowners in the U.S. has shifted from the notoriously hard-hit – but quick to recover – Southwest and Southeast, to the long-suffering and sluggish rust belt states. The shift is reflective of a housing market that has evolved from one driven by largely temporary factors caused by the massive housing boom and bust, to one driven by more fundamental, traditional factors like job growth, supply and demand.
Q4 2015 Negative Equity: When Abnormal Is the New Normal
It’s no secret that high levels of negative equity cause housing markets to act abnormally. But that doesn’t mean that some amount of negative equity isn’t normal, or that persistently elevated rates of negative equity aren’t rapidly becoming the new normal in dozens of markets nationwide.
