The average homeowner continued to see their home's value grow in the third quarter of 2018, according to the real estate data company CoreLogic. However, changes in real estate values were highly variable by region and the number of homes with negative equity showed little change.

In its latest Homeowner Equity Insights report, CoreLogic determined that homeowners with a mortgage—about 63 percent of all homeowners in the United States—typically saw their property values grow by 9.4 percent compared to the previous year. This represented a $775.2 billion increase in cumulative home equity.

The average homeowner gained $12,400 in equity compared to the previous year, but this growth varied considerably from state to state. California had the strongest year-over-year increase in values, with the typical homeowner seeing their property's equity grow by $36,500. By contrast, the average equity of a mortgaged North Dakota residence dropped by $11,289 while the typical equity in a mortgaged Louisiana home fell by $3,845.

Connecticut showed little change in home equity, with the typical homeowner experiencing a $431 reduction. In Rhode Island, equity was typically up by $14,257.

"On average, homeowners saw their home equity increase again this quarter but not nearly as much as in previous quarters," said Frank Nothaft, chief economist at CoreLogic.

Nothaft noted that the typical home in the second quarter of the year had an annual increase of $16,000 in equity.

Approximately 2.2 million homes, or 4.1 percent of all mortgaged properties, continued to have negative equity. In this situation, the combined value of loans secured by the property exceeds its fair market value. Negative equity was at its highest point in the fourth quarter of 2009, when 26 percent of mortgaged properties were underwater.

"The number of homes in a negative equity position have remained around 2.2 million for two consecutive quarters this year," said Frank Martell, president and CEO of CoreLogic. "Without equity, those homeowners are unable to sell their homes and are more likely to transition from delinquency to foreclosure if they face financial distress."

The number of homes with negative equity was down 16 percent from the third quarter of 2017, or 416,000 homes, and 4 percent from the second quarter of 2018. CoreLogic determined that the aggregate value of negative equity in the nation was $281.6 billion, down $1.1 billion from the second quarter of the year and $2.7 billion from the third quarter of 2017.

CoreLogic says this improvement represents the smallest quarterly decline in negative equity since home values began to recover in 2010. Only 81,000 homeowners regained equity between the second and third quarters of the year.

Louisiana had the highest share of negative equity, with 10.9 percent of the state's mortgaged properties worth less than the loans secured by the residence. The negative equity share was lowest in Utah and Washington, with just 1.5 percent of mortgaged homes in this situation. The negative equity share stood at 8 percent in Connecticut and 5.7 percent in Rhode Island.

The CoreLogic Homeowner Equity Insights reports are based on information from a database of more than 50 million mortgaged properties. The reports typically differ from similar quarterly analyses by the real estate data company ATTOM Data Solutions, which looks at a nationwide sample of 155 million residences.

In its third quarter home equity report, ATTOM Data Solutions determined that 25.7 percent of mortgaged properties were "equity rich," with loans secured by the property representing 50 percent or less of its fair market value. The company also determined that 8.8 percent of mortgaged properties, or 4.9 million homes, were "seriously underwater" with negative equity of 25 percent or more.