NEARLY 1 MILLION HOUSES FLOAT BACK INTO POSITIVE EQUITY

Approximately 850,000 more residential properties returned to a state of positive equity during the first quarter of 2013, according to the CoreLogic first quarter home equity report.

The recovery is still far below peak home price levels, but tight supplies in many areas coupled with continued demand for single family homes should help close the gap.

Rising home values in many areas including many areas within San Bernadino, Riverside and Los Angeles counties are responsible for causing the negative equity burden to recede.

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More Home Owners Regain Long-Lost Equity

Rising home prices are helping to propel more home owners back into positive equity. About 850,000 residential properties returned to positive equity during the first quarter of 2013, according to new data released by CoreLogic. That brings the total to 1.7 million borrowers who have regained positive equity in the past year.

In total, 39 million residential properties now have positive equity.

"The negative equity burden continues to recede across the country thanks largely to rising home prices," says Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic.

By the end of the first quarter, 19.8 percent of all residential properties with a mortgage -- or 19.7 million -- still had negative equity. At the end of the fourth quarter of 2012, 10.5 million or 21.7 percent of residential properties were underwater.

The states with the highest percentage of negative equity properties are:

• Nevada: 45.4% of the properties there are still underwater
• Florida: 38.1% underwater
• Michigan: 32% underwater

Source: “CoreLogic: Nearly 1 million houses float back into positive equity,” HousingWire (June 12, 2013)