The average homeowner with a mortgage saw a gain in equity of $12,400 in the third quarter of last year and this year, according to CareLogic. Unfortunately, that is down from the $16,000 in gains from the second quarter and the smallest gain in two years.
"On average, homeowners saw their home equity increase again this quarter but not nearly as much as in previous quarters," said Frank Nothaft, chief economist at CoreLogic. "This lower year-over-year gain reflects the slowing in appreciation we've seen in the CoreLogic Home Price Index."
At the end of the third quarter, 43.6 million homeowners with mortgages had equity available to draw — about 272,000 fewer than in the second quarter. The average homeowner had $136,000 available, which was about $2,300 less than in the second quarter.