Borrowers Gained Over $280B in Home Equity Last Year — These States Were the Biggest Winners and Losers

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This decade’s soaring home prices have made it tough for many U.S. consumers to afford a new house, but there has been at least one silver lining: Existing homeowners have built up a lot more equity.

The average mortgage borrower gained $4,100 in home equity in 2024, closing the year at an average of $303,000, according to data from CoreLogic. Nationwide, borrower equity increased by $281.9 billion — up 1.7% from the previous year.

“Housing equity growth slowed in 2024 versus 2020-2023 due to moderating price appreciation, but homeowners maintain substantial equity gains from prior years, preserving their strong financial position,” Dr. Selma Hepp, chief economist for CoreLogic, said in a March 13 press release.

If you’re looking to buy soon, check out the best places to buy a home if you want it to gain value.

Home Equity Growth

The median U.S. home price was $415,533 as of December 2024, according to industry data compiled by the DQYDJ website. That represented a 4.7% increase from the previous year — a slight dip from the 6.9% year-over-year gain recorded in December 2023.

Median home prices have surged more than 50% since December 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic. That goes a long way toward explaining why so many borrowers have seen their equity push much higher. But not all parts of the country have taken part in this bonanza equally.

As CoreLogic noted, there are “clear regional divisions” for equity gains. Northeastern states have seen the biggest rises in home equity. States with the biggest declines in equity tend to be concentrated in the Southeast.

Nationwide, the total number of mortgage residential properties with negative equity in the 2024 fourth quarter rose by 9.3% from the prior quarter to 1.1 million homes. Year-over-year, negative equity climbed by 7%, or 1.8% of all mortgage properties.

States With the Biggest Gains

Here are the 10 states that saw the biggest average year-over-hear home equity gains as of Q4 2024, according to CoreLogic.

1. New Jersey: $39,000 per borrower
2. Connecticut: $36,000 per borrower
3. Massachusetts: $34,000 per borrower
4. Rhode Island: $33,000 per borrower
5. Maine: $30,000 per borrower
6. New Hampshire: $27,000 per borrower
7. New York: $15,000 per borrower
8. California: $14,000 per borrower
9. Nevada: $13,000 per borrower
10. Wisconsin: $11,000 per borrower

States With the Biggest Declines

These are the states that saw the biggest year-over-hear home equity declines, not including Washington, D.C., which had a $15,000 average decrease.

1. Hawaii: -$29,000 per borrower
2. Florida: -$18,000 per borrower
3. Texas: -$10,000 per borrower
4. Delaware: -$9,000 per borrower
5. Louisiana: -$7,000 per borrower
6. Oklahoma: -$6,000 per borrower
7. Georgia: -$6,000 per borrower
8. Mississippi: -$5,000 per borrower
9. Wyoming: -$5,000 per borrower
10. Utah: -$5,000 per borrower
11. Mississippi: -$-5,000 per borrower

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