CoreLogic’s third quarter equity report helps instill confidence for 2015.

Early today, CoreLogic released its quarterly equity report, detailing the state of both the nation and individual metros in regards to the current level of equity in the market. Nationwide, 2014’s third quarter has been a boon, with nearly 273,000 homes returning to positive equity. Overall, 44.6 million of the 49 million properties mortgaged in the U.S., or 90 percent, now have some level of equity, which marks a year-over-year increase of $800 billion to borrow equity in Q3 2014.

High levels of negative equity persist in Florida, where 951,605 of the state’s 3.99 million mortgaged properties have fallen into negative equity, amounting to a 23.8 percent share of the total market – the second highest in the nation. The share of near negative equity properties hovers around 3.3 percent – also one of the worst in the country – but a large portion of Florida’s floundering mortgages can be found in Miami.

It’s a booming market, the Magic City, but one still struggling to trudge through the fallout of the financial downturn. With more than 127,000 properties underwater, more than one-quarter (28.3 percent) of all the city’s mortgages have fallen into negative equity. It’s a 6 percent decrease from the same time last year, which suggests a positive, long-term trajectory, but such consistently high numbers pose a problem for a city already battling a lack of affordability and a backlog of foreclosures.

Equity Up Year-Over-Year

Broken down into it’s baser parts, progress was intermittent throughout the nation, but collectively, the U.S. moved forward this quarter, according to CoreLogic.

• In Q3 of 2014, 5.1 million homes, or 10.3 percent of all residential properties with a mortgage, remained in negative equity, compared to 5.4 million in Q2.
• Year-over-year, negative equity fell by 3 percent, representing a descrease in the number of underwater homes by nearly 1.5 million.
• The national value of negative equity fell 16.2 percent from Q3 2013 to Q3 2014 – a nearly $70 billion decline.

Less Friction in 2015

The level of negative equity in the nation remains above average, but the downward trend of average figures has prompted confidence in CoreLogic Deputy Chief Economist Sam Khater.

“Forecasted house price appreciation of about five percent over the next year suggests that negative equity should be at about 8 percent a year from now, still above average, but approaching the pre-crisis level,” he said.

Anand Nallathambi, CoreLogic CEO and president, said that a dwindling of negative equity should “translate into less friction in the housing market as we move forward.” A large part of that, Nallathambi pointed out, will rest on the shoulders of first-time buyers, who are likely to find 2015 a more attractive year for homeownership as rents continue to skyrocket.