76
NATIONAL SNAPSHOT
Regional
Statewide Negative Equity is Down
By Molly Boesel
e amount of equity in mortgaged real estate increased by
$63 billion in Q 4 2016 compared with Q 3 2016, and increased
by $783 billion between Q 4 2015 and Q 4 2016, according to the
latest CoreLogic Equity Report. e nationwide negative equity
share for Q 4 2016 was 6.2 percent of all
homes with a mortgage, nearly 20 percent-
age points lower than the peak negative
equity share– 26 percent–recorded in Q 4
2009 (CoreLogic began reporting negative
equity in Q 3 2009).
e improvement in negative equity has
been seen across the U.S., with all states
registering a year-over-year decrease in
negative equity share. Figure 1 shows the
25 states with the largest percentage-point
change in the negative equity share from
the previous year. Florida's 4.9-percentage-
point decrease between Q 4 2015 and Q 4
2016 represented the nation's largest decline. Florida's negative
equity share was 50.9 percent at its peak in Q 4 2009 and was 11.6
percent in Q 4 2016. Of all states, Nevada has seen the largest
improvement in negative equity share over the last six years.
From a high of 72.7 percent in Q1 2010 the state's negative equity
share had fallen to 13.7 percent in Q 4 2016.
Figure 2 shows the average dollar
amount of negative equity and the negative
equity share for 10 large Core Based Statis-
tical Areas (CBSAs) in Q 4 2016. e aver-
age amount of negative equity is inversely
related to the negative equity share. For
example, in this group of CBSAs, Denver
has the largest average amount of negative
equity, but the negative equity share is only
1.5 percent, and Phoenix has the smallest
average amount of negative equity, but has
a negative equity share that is well above
the national average.
STATS AT-A-GLANCE
e national negative equity share
fell to 6.2 percent in Q4 2016.
All states saw a decrease in negative
equity share over the past year.
Florida saw the largest
improvement in negative equity
share over the past year, falling 4.9
percentage points.
