Senior home equity reached a five year high in the third quarter of 2013, but still falling below its 2006 peak.
According to the index compiled by Riskspan and the National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association, total senior home equity in the U.S. rose 3.4% in the third quarter of 2013, to $3.46 trillion, or 165.7 points on the basis of the NRMLA/Riskspan Reverse Mortgage Market Index.
The uptick marked the greatest quarterly increase since the fourth quarter of 2005, followed by the 2006 index peak at $4.0 trillion.
The quarterly index measures the amount of home equity that owned by American homeowners who are eligible for reverse mortgages and is based on the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s all-transactions Indices. Home values have been on a sustained upswing, rising in 72% of metropolitan statistical areas tracked by FHFA.
In a NRMLA member release, the association pointed both to the $117 billion increase during the quarter as being offset by a $3 billion increase in mortgage debt by senior households, leading to the total $114 increase.
View more historical data from NRMLA and RiskSpan.
Written by Elizabeth Ecker
