Homeowners continued to build equity in the first three months of 2016, according to the property analytics company CoreLogic. More than a quarter-million residences had positive equity when compared to the same time in the previous year.

In its equity report for the first quarter of 2016, CoreLogic said that 92 percent of mortgaged homes in the United States—46.7 million—were worth more than the amount left on the loan. A total of 268,000 properties that had negative equity during the first quarter of 2015 had regained equity at the beginning of this year.

"More than 1 million homeowners have escaped the equity trap over the past year," said Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic. "We expect this positive trend to continue over the balance of 2016 and into next year as home prices continue to rise."

The positive equity share has increased steadily in recent years, rising from 79.8 percent in the first quarter of 2013 to 87.1 percent in the first quarter of 2014 and 89.7 percent in the first quarter of 2015. CoreLogic anticipates that another 800,000 homes would regain equity if home prices were to increase by 5 percent over the next year.

Of the homes with positive equity in the first quarter of the year, 18 percent—about 9.1 million properties—were considered to be "under-equitied." These homeowners have less than 20 percent equity in the home.

Approximately 1 million homes, or 2.2 percent, were classified as having "near negative" equity of 5 percent or less. These homes are considered most vulnerable to shifts in home prices, since the positive equity could be eliminated if home prices fall.

The average homeowner had a loan-to-value ratio of 56.7 percent. This share indicates that the outstanding mortgage balance is 56.7 percent of the property's value, and that the homeowner has built up 43.3 percent equity in the home.

More expensive homes were more likely to have positive equity. Ninety-five percent of residences valued at more than $200,000 had equity, compared to 87 percent of properties valued under this price.

Eight percent of homes in the United States, or about 4 million properties, had negative equity. This situation, also known as being underwater or upside down on a loan, indicates that the mortgage is more than the home's value.

However, the aggregate amount of negative equity was down from both the previous quarter and the previous year. This sum fell from $340 billion in the first quarter of 2015 and $311.3 billion in the fourth quarter of that year to $299.5 billion in the first quarter of 2016.

About 800,000 homes, or 1.6 percent of all mortgaged properties in the nation, have a loan-to-value ratio of 100 to 105 percent and would be most likely to achieve positive equity with rising home prices. Three percent, or 1.5 million homes, had a loan-to-value ratio of more than 125 percent, indicating that the mortgage was at least 25 percent more than the home's value.

Of the homes with negative equity, 2.4 million borrowers had first liens with no home equity loans. On average, these borrowers had a balance of $244,000 and were underwater by $68,000. Another 1.6 million homeowners had both first and second liens, with an average balance of $307,000 and underwater amount of $84,000.

Texas had the highest share of positive equity at 98.1 percent, followed by Alaska and Hawaii with 97.8 percent each. A total of 97.5 percent of Colorado homes and 97.2 percent of Washington homes had positive equity.

Nevada had the highest share of negative equity, with 17.5 percent of the state's homes valued at less than the mortgage balance. Other states with a high negative equity share included Florida (15 percent), Illinois (14.4 percent), Rhode Island (13.3 percent), and Maryland (12.9 percent). Together, these states accounted for 30.2 percent of all negative equity in the United States.

Of the approximately 846,000 mortgaged properties in Connecticut, 88.8 percent had positive equity, including 19.2 percent which were "under-equitied" and 3.2 percent which had "near-negative" equity. A total of 11.2 percent of homes had negative equity, including 2.4 percent which were near equity. The average loan-to-value ratio in Connecticut was 59.2 percent.

Rhode Island had an equity share of 86.7 percent, including 18 percent considered to be under-equitied and 2.6 percent with near-negative equity. The negative equity share included 2.2 percent of properties considered to be near equity. The average loan-to-value ratio in the state was 59.6 percent.

CoreLogic's equity reports determine whether a home has positive or negative equity at the property level before aggregating the information to a larger geographical area. The company says the 49 million mortgaged homes in its database account for about 85 percent of all residential properties with financing in the United States.