This week Forbes.com published a list of cities with the fastest declining home equity. They report:

“To find the cities which have lost the most home equity in the last year, we used data from Moody’s Economy.com and compared the average amount of home equity in June of 2007 to June 2008 for the 200 biggest metropolitan areas in the country.

Cities in California are particularly hard-hit. In Modesto, Sacramento, Riverside, Vallejo, San Diego and Stockton, homeowners have lost 50% or more of their home equity in the last year. Price declines–most significantly in Modesto, where prices are down 38% from last year–combined with second mortgages and low down-payment loans have tapped home equity.”

If you live in a city with declining home equity, be aware that banks may be more inclined to freeze your HELOC. They often figure average neighborhood equity into their automated valuations.

See Also:

The HELOC Foreclosure Process

Tags | Heloc, heloc freeze, home equity line of credit