Article By Kenneth R. Harney
October 2, 2011
Reporting from Washington— Negative equity and underwater homeowners are frequently in the headlines, but what about positive equity in Americans’ homes?
Is there much of it left after the wealth-killing recession and real estate bust? Where is it? Who’s got equity? You might be surprised.
A new study, conducted by mortgage and real estate data firm CoreLogic for this column, found that there are substantial reserves of positive equity across the country. CoreLogic maintains the largest database on home loans — 42 million active accounts, more than 80% of all existing mortgages — with information supplied regularly by lenders and servicers.