ORLANDO, Fla. – July 27, 2017 – It's a good time to sell a home and cash in.

A study found that an owner's home equity increased 45.3% (an average $77,900) in South Florida based on sales completed in the second quarter – but the state's metro with the lowest equity expansion, Pensacola-Ferry Pass-Brent, still had a healthy 25.4% equity increase.

South Florida's increase is the highest percentage increase in 10 years and above the national average of 26 percent.

The study from ATTOM Data Solutions found that homeowners across the U.S. have built up equity since they purchased their home, based largely on rising home values and a longer average length of homeownership, and all but one metro equity increases beat the national average.

Fla. metro area – equity % growth since purchase – average dollar increase

1. Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach: 45.3% – $77,900
2. Deltona-Daytona Beach-Ormond Beach: 42.4% – $52,100
3. Cape Coral-Fort Myers: 37.5% – $60,000
4. Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin: 36.0% – $72,650
5. North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton: 34.2% – $61,150
6. Port St Lucie: 31.7% – $47,400
7. Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford: 30.6% – $49,000
8. Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater: 30.4% – $42,000
9. Ocala: 28.8% – $28,600
10. Naples-Immokalee-Marco Island: 26.2% – $67,500
11. Pensacola-Ferry Pass-Brent: 25.4% – $33,850

Nationwide, ATTOM found that homeowners who sold in the second quarter realized an average price gain of $51,000 since purchase – the highest average price gain for home sellers since Q2 2007, when it was $57,000. That represented an average return of 26 percent on the previous purchase price of the home.

The report also found that homeowners stayed in their property for an average 8.05 years – the longest home tenure since ATTOM started tracking the data in 2000. One year ago, in the second quarter of 2016, it was 7.59 years.

"Potential home sellers in today's market are caught in a Catch-22. While it's the most profitable time to sell in a decade, it's also extremely difficult to find another home to purchase, which is helping to keep homeowners in their homes longer before selling," says Daren Blomquist, senior vice president at ATTOM Data Solutions.

Blomquist says the market is becoming even more competitive with "the share of cash buyers in the second quarter increasing annually for the first time in four years."