IRVINE, Calif. – Nov. 17, 2016 – ATTOM Data Solutions’ Q3 2016 U.S. Home Equity and Underwater Report finds that 23.4 percent of U.S. homeowners with a mortgage are equity rich, meaning their loan-to-value ratio is 50 percent or lower. It’s a year-to-year increase of more than 2.6 million owners.

In Florida, the ratio is similar, according to ATTOM, where 23.2 percent of owners with a mortgage are equity rich.

On the flipside, 16 percent of Florida owners with a mortgage are still “seriously underwater,” meaning they have a loan-to-value ratio of 125 percent or higher. Nationwide, the seriously underwater percentage is 10.8 percent – a year-to-year decrease of 854,000-plus homeowners.

“Close to one in every five U.S. homeowners with a mortgage is now equity rich thanks to a combination of rising home prices and lengthening homeownership tenures,” says Daren Blomquist, senior vice president at ATTOM Data Solutions.

“Median home prices increased on a year-over-year basis for the 18th consecutive quarter in Q3 2016, and homeowners who sold in the third quarter had owned their home an average of 7.94 years – a new high in our data and substantially higher than the average homeownership tenure of 4.26 years pre-recession,” says Blomquist. “As homeowners stay in their homes longer before moving up, they are amassing more home equity wealth.”

A closer look by metro areas finds no Florida city in the top 10 on ATTOM’s list, however. Still, one city – Cape Coral-Fort Myers – was notable for being the only state city in the list of seven metro areas that saw the number of equity-rich homeowners increase by more than 10 percent as the area logged a 11.5 percentage point increase.

However, one Florida metro area also made ATTOM’s list of seven cities where more than 20 percent of homeowners with a mortgage are still underwater: Lakeland-Winter Haven ranked at No. 7 with an even 20 percent.

© 2016 Florida Realtors®