As a home owner, having equity means your home is worth more than what you owe on your mortgage. It's a good position to be in, as equity is one of the primary financial benefits of homeownership. It's also something nearly all current homeowners have following two years of sharp price increases. According to ATTOM Data Solutions' third-quarter 2022 U.S. Home Equity & Underwater Report, 94.3 percent of homeowners have at least some equity built up and nearly half of mortgaged residential properties are now considered equity rich, meaning the amount owed on those properties is no more than 50 percent of their estimated market value. In short, homeowners are in good shape. Rick Sharga, ATTOM's executive vice president of market intelligence, says they're beginning to take advantage of it. “Even though home price appreciation has slowed down dramatically in recent months, homeowners have continued to build equity,” Sharga said. “And it appears that many of those homeowners … are beginning to tap into that equity, as the number of home equity lines of credit (HELOCs) issued in the second quarter of 2022 rose by 43 percent from the prior year.”
