Shedding equity: Housing slowdown leads to first annual drop in US homeowner equity since 2012

By ALEX VEIGA
AP Business Writer

LOS ANGELES (AP) — For the first time in more than a decade, the average U.S. homeowner with a mortgage has less home equity than they did a year earlier. Among the roughly 63% of U.S. homes with a mortgage, average homeowner equity per borrower was $274,070 in the first quarter, down 1.9% from the same quarter last year, according to real estate data tracker CoreLogic. The last time average homeowner equity fell year-over-year was in the first quarter of 2012, when the housing market was still regaining its footing after the mortgage meltdown and ensuing foreclosure crisis that helped trigger the Great Recession.