Housing Equity

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• Housing equity rose 17 percent or nearly $1 trillion over the past 5 quarters (15 months).
• The increase was due to a modest rise in home values and a reduction in outstanding mortgage debt.
• The debt reduction resulted from ‘cash-in’ refinancings and a greater number of all-cash purchases. The Realtors® Confidence Index reports that 28 percent of August purchases were all-cash.
• The lower debt is also a result of foreclosures, which remove debt from the national household finance data, though bank balance sheets do take a hit.