Posted on 03/06/2008 9:36:15 AM PST by Toddsterpatriot
Federal Reserve Report Shows Homeowner Equity Dipping Below 50 Percent, Lowest on Record
NEW YORK (AP) -- Americans' percentage of equity in their homes has fallen below 50 percent for the first time on record since 1945, the Federal Reserve said Thursday. Homeowners' percentage of equity slipped to a revised lower 49.6 percent in the second quarter of 2007, the central bank reported in its quarterly U.S. Flow of Funds Accounts, and declined further to 47.9 percent in the fourth quarter -- the third straight quarter it was under 50 percent. That marks the first time homeowners' debt on their houses exceeds their equity since the Fed started tracking the data in 1945.
The total value of equity also fell for the third straight quarter to $9.65 trillion from a downwardly revised $9.93 trillion in the third quarter.
Home equity, which is equal to the percentage of a home's market value minus mortgage-related debt, has steadily decreased even as home prices jumped earlier this decade due to a surge in cash-out refinances, home equity loans and lines of credit and an increase in 100 percent or more home financing.
Economists expect this figure to drop even further as declining home prices eat into the value of most Americans' single largest asset.
Moody's Economy.com estimates that 8.8 million homeowners, or about 10.3 percent of homes, will have zero or negative equity by the end of the month. Even more disturbing, about 13.8 million households, or 15.9 percent, will be "upside down" if prices fall 20 percent from their peak.
The latest Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller index showed U.S. home prices plunging 8.9 percent in the final quarter of 2007 compared with a year ago, the steepest decline in the 20-year history of the index.
Just Wow!
Ping!
and yet, Dems still pledge to raise taxes on America for their healthcare initiative
I believe that this value will continue to fall for some time. I further believe that when this value turns positive it will be a powerful signal to indicate the bottom of the market has or is just about to occur. In other words, don’t buy if you can avoid it until this indicator goes positive.
Does this count negative equity? Or is 0% as low as you can go for this calc?
and yet, Dems still pledge to raise taxes on America for their healthcare initiative...
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Washington, and specifically the Dims, remains TOTALLY OUT OF CONTROL. They are methodically and insanely destroying America with excessive taxation and regulation, malfeasance, disregard for the Constitution and our system of laws. We see its disasterous impact daily now.
That's when houses were $5000. Some people pay that much on their mortgage every month now.
Good question. I think they take the value of all homes and compare to the amount of all mortgages. I think they do count individuals with negative equity in this calculation.
“..... big socialist government will save you and stick all the other home owners who are paying their bills on time with the tab.”
This is exactly what is going to happen.
It is already happening with increasingly insane cost of “higher education”: funding for those who CHOOSE not to sacrifice for their children’s education paid for by those that are.
If what you owe is more than what the house is worth, then you have -zero- equity. I guess this story is saying more people are upside down than have equity. (?)
When you are upside down on your loan (owe more than the value) I guess you could say it is negative equity?.
I doubt that the people for whom the Dems pledge to raise taxes are the ones suffering forclosure on their primary residences, or if they are they should have been smart enough or educated enough not to make foolish investments at 100% financing. Of course there are probably people with higher incomes who made investments or bought a McMansion that they may no longer be able to afford, but at least if they have enough income to be the target of higher taxes, they also have enough income to afford health insurance.
Wasn’t Bush the one, who stepped into office promising to establish a culture of american private ownership ?
Now it’s safe to say that failure is getting an all new standard set at the moment.
You had to be deaf, dumb and blind not to see this coming. I decided to stay put and pay off my home five years ago instead of buying a bigger house like many of my friends and I’m glad I did.
It is already happening with increasingly insane cost of “higher education”: funding for those who CHOOSE not to sacrifice for their children’s education paid for by those that are.
You think education costs are bad now...wait until libs (McCain included) get this DREAM Act passed.....and we subsidize illegal alien college education. Talk to me about education costs then.....
Of course the amount of equity has dropped! That’s what several years of a building boom will do for you. When the masses are buying new houses, they aren’t going to have a lot of equity.
This just echoes the fact that millions of Americans are well-off enough to have bought new houses recently.
That’s a good thing.
This must be vs mortgage value, not new value.
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