Who’s Equity-Rich? Map of US Housing Shows Big Pandemic Shift

The pandemic housing boom has seen home-equity wealth surge all over the country — but the gains aren’t evenly distributed.

The share of equity-rich mortgages — those that have a loan-to-value ratio of 50% or lower, meaning the mortgage holder’s equity stake is at least 50%  — almost doubled in the past three years according to new data released by Attom, a real estate data analytics firm. Almost half of all mortgaged homes now fall into that category.  The equity share is even bigger when homeowners who don’t owe any debt are included.

In general, states in the south and west of the country have seen the biggest gains. Out of the 20 zip codes that had the fastest increase in the share of equity-rich mortgages over the last three years, 13 were in Florida, according to Attom’s data. Some 62% of mortgaged properties in the state were equity-rich as of December, up 36 percentage points from the end of 2019.

The northeast of the US hasn’t done so well overall — except in its furthest corner. In Vermont, for example, the share of mortgaged homes that are equity-rich surged to 77% last quarter, from 31% three years earlier.