Source: Federal Reserve
According to Federal Reserve data on household balance sheets, the aggregate market value of owneroccupied housing in the US peaked in the fourth quarter of 2006 at $22.5 trillion with first lien mortgage
and home equity loan debt outstanding equal to $9.9 trillion (44 percent) and homeowner equity equal to
$12.6 trillion (56 percent). Home equity loans represented about 11 percent of total debt outstanding at
the time.
Aggregate market value fell from that point until the fourth quarter of 2011, when it reached $16.1 trillion,
a decline of $6.4 trillion. Homeowner equity fell by $6.2 trillion to just 40 percent of aggregate value, as
home values declined at the same time the amount of outstanding mortgage debt barely changed.
By the first quarter of 2015, the total market value of housing recovered to $21.1 trillion, 6 percent below
the peak valuation. The relative amount of debt and equity returned to 2006 shares, with total mortgage
debt outstanding equal to $9.4 trillion (44 percent) and the value of equity at $11.7 trillion (56 percent).
Home equity debt was $660 million, about 7 percent of total debt outstanding.
-Lynn Fisher lfisher@mba.org; Joel Kan jkan@mba.org