Good News for Homeowners
Experts predict the housing market will continue to improve in 2014, although housing prices might not rise quite as much as they did in 2013. The National Association of Realtors® estimated home prices would finish 2013 up 11.3 percent from 2012 levels.
Homeowners Continue Building Equity
Despite the Great Recession, real estate continues to be an effective way to build wealth. If you bought the median-priced home in 2004 with a 30-year mortgage, you’d now have $28,114 in equity on average. If you bought the median-priced home in 2012, you’d have more than $23,000 in equity.
Even those who purchased at the market peak in 2006 would have seen his home decline in value and by 2012, he would have owed about $28,200 more than his home was worth on average. But, by the end of 2013, he would be only $4,700 underwater, NAR says.
Most homeowners who bought their homes after 2007 have positive equity.
