Soaring home prices juice average US homeowner equity growth

By ALEX VEIGA
AP Business Writer

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Soaring home prices are driving the fastest pace of growth in homeowner equity in more than a decade, though recent signs of a cooling U.S. housing market point to more moderate gains in the second half of the year. Homes with a mortgage gained an average of $51,500 in equity in the second quarter, an increase of 29.3% from the April-June quarter last year, according to real estate information company CoreLogic. That’s the highest quarterly average gain in home equity since the second quarter of 2010. The surge follows a record run up in U.S. home prices this year.