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Bay Area homeowners are the most equity rich in the U.S.

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On the plus side of the exorbitant real estate prices in the San Francisco Bay Area is that those fortunate enough to actually own a home are the most equity rich in the United States. Currently the five zip codes of the most equity rich properties include: San Francisco 94116 (86 percent), Sunnyvale 94086 (84 percent), Mountain View 94040 (84 percent), Sunnyvale 94087 (84 percent) and San Francisco 94122 (84 percent).

On the other side, 1 in 10 homes nationwide is still “underwater,” meaning “combined value of the loans on those homes exceeds its market value by at least 25 percent” (San Francisco Business Times. Areas with the most homes “underwater” include: Baton Rouge (21 percent), Toledo (20 percent), Scranton (20 percent), Youngstown, Ohio (19 percent), and New Orleans (19 percent).

Continued job creation that are well-paying is generally considered a prime reason for the Bay Area boom.

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Home Equity Increasing, So Is Housing Wealth

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While the recession and housing slump saw wealth decreased by $7 trillion between 2006 and 2009, the value of homeowners’ real estate equity has more than doubled since 2009 according to a recent Federal Reserve report.

Moreover, housing wealth is proving to be a nice counter-balance against recent stock-market volatility as home equity has increased by 22 percent compared with a 11 percent gain in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index.

The number of homeowners with at least 20 percent equity continues to rise at a rapid pace and analysts predict that housing wealth could reach a new high as early as the second quarter of this year.

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