Americans now have nearly as much home equity as they did when levels peaked before the housing crisis, according to a recent study on the state of the nation’s housing market from Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies.
Aggregate home equity jumped from $7 trillion in 2011 to $15.5 trillion in 2018, according to the study, a fact attributable to rising home prices coupled with only modest increases in mortgage debt.
“With this increase, home equity levels are approaching the pre-crisis peak of $17 trillion while aggregate mortgage debt remains closer to the post-crisis low,” the study stated.
In 2016, the median amount of homeowner equity was $100,000, down from $121,6000 in 2007, the report revealed.