Blog 12417The aggregate value of the U.S. housing market is climbing due to the ongoing rise in home equity, according to the Urban Institute’s Housing Finance at a Glance Monthly Chartbook for January 2017.

The share of homes in the U.S. with negative equity is 6.3 percent (3.2 million homes) as of the end of the third quarter last year, according to CoreLogic’s latest data, which is a fraction of the peak negative equity rate of higher than 30 percent in 2012.

The result in the consistent rise in home equity over the last four-plus years has been an increase in the aggregate value of the housing market across the country, up to $23.9 trillion as of the end of Q3, according to Urban Institute. Total debt and mortgages made up $10.2 trillion of that $23.9 trillion, while home equity accounted for $13.7 trillion of it. Another 1.6 percent of residential properties were in near negative equity, or those with LTV ratios between 95 and 100, as of the end of Q3, according to CoreLogic.

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