Americans are digging themselves out of mortgage debt.Home equity in the first quarter rose to $6.7 trillion, the
highest level since 2008 as homeowners taking advantage of record-low borrowing
costs to refinance their loans brought cash to the table to pay down principal.
The gain in percentage terms was the biggest jump in more than 60 years,
according to an analysis by Bloomberg of Federal Reserve data.
It’s the strongest sign yet that Americans’ home-loan debt
burden is beginning to ease after the record borrowing that created, and
ultimately popped, the housing bubble, leaving almost a quarter of homeowners
with mortgages owing more than their properties were worth, said Richard
DeKaser, deputy chief economist at Parthenon Group LLC in Boston. Half the
mortgages refinanced in the fourth quarter reduced loan size, a record,
according to Freddie Mac, the government-owned mortgage buyer….
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