Housing wealth: What do Americans have?

More than two-thirds of the owner-occupied housing properties in the country have home debt, such as mortgages and equity loans.

These 73.3 million homeowners are the majority, compared to the 26.9 percent of their peers who have no housing debt. Overall, homeowners have a net housing wealth of $150,506, when not including outstanding home debt. However, homeowners with no housing debt have a net housing worth of $229,296, while those with housing debt see a net housing worth of $103, 932, according to a recent report from the Urban Institute.

The study analyzed housing wealth, which is defined by the federal reserve as “about one half of household net worth, and consumption is a considerable fraction (about two thirds) of Gross Domestic Product in the United States.” The authors found that if homeowners were able to borrow up to 75 percent of their home value, more than 50 million homeowners would have accessible housing wealth. This number includes the 26.9 million owners without debt, along with 25.6 million owners with some housing debt. According to the study, there is $11 trillion in net housing wealth from owner-occupied properties, and about $7 trillion, or 64 percent, is accessible. Thus, an average of $171,972 could be used from a home without debt, and $98,763 from a home with debt, for an average of $133,810.

Older homeowners have the least amount of housing debt, and thus the most accessible housing wealth with 44 percent, even though they only own 30 percent of owner-occupied properties. On the other hand, homeowners under 40 with a mortgage owned 14 percent of the housing, but had access to only 2.5 percent of accessible housing wealth.

Pennsylvania landed in fifth for the number of owner-occupied units by state, behind only California, Texas, Florida and New York.