U.S. homeowners’ equity falls below half

The Federal Reserve says the percentage of equity Americans have in their homes fell below 50 percent last year for the first time since it began tracking the statistic in 1945 (homeowner equity is the value of a home minus mortgage-related debt). Homeowners’ portion of equity in the U.S. fell to 49.6 percent in the second quarter of 2007, then to 47.0 percent in the fourth quarter.