Nationally, homeowners with mortgages saw their home equity increase by 16.2% year-over-year from the fourth quarter of 2019.

It also ranks among the top 10 states in the economy and fiscal stability categories.

Lenders issued $1.06 trillion worth of mortgages in the fourth quarter of 2020 with refis contributing to the boost.

“More jobs are very likely, due to the near certain passage of the $1.9 trillion stimulus package and from two million vaccinations per day,” National Association of Realtors chief economist Lawrence Yun said in a release.

The increase follows a decline earlier in February that cut the number of homeowners in forbearance plans to less than 2.7 million, the first dip below that threshold since April 2020.

New home listings nationwide fell 17% from last year, while median home sale prices are up 15%, according to a recent Redfin report.  

The all-time high for January comes as limited supply cut pending transactions on a monthly basis, the association said.

The median sales price in the first month of 2021 was up 11.8% from January 2020 to $285,000, nearly matching the record high of $290,000 set last August.

For the ninth month in a row, Redfin is reporting more than half the homes offered by their agents are facing competition at 56%.

In Houston, 3.4% of last year’s Redfin searches were for homes priced higher than $1 million.

Median prices rose 15%, pending home sales were up 29%, and new listings fell 11% from the same period a year earlier.

The website, which notes that housing costs take up about one third of average spending for households, configured data by assessing the median home value and mortgage payment to show the minimum level of income necessary.

“In the final months of 2020, single-family rents posted the highest increases in over four years,” said Molly Boesel, principal economist at CoreLogic. “However, single-family rent price reaction to the pandemic and resulting recession differed greatly across metros.”

Sales surged across all housing types during Q4 2020, more than doubling year over year to a record 19,555 sales.

Zillow’s national figures showed high demand for housing in urban areas helping values in cities keep pace with those in the suburbs.

The report added that vacation homes and affordable homes in small towns near major urban centers were in strong demand as a result of the pandemic.