Rising property prices are doing little to curb the number of mortgage holders with little or no equity in their homes. A fresh estimate from Roy Morgan Research has put the number at 302,000 at October 2016, down from 311,000 earlier in the year. This is 6.9 per cent of Australian mortgage holders Those with little or no equity in their homes are also, on the whole, less affluent, with much lower average house values (A$457,000) compared to all mortgage holders (A$688,000).Roy Morgan derives the data from self-reporting in routine surveys, on the level of mortgage and the value of a home.Roy Morgan industry communications director Norman Morris said in a statement: "Of all the states and two largest cities included in this analysis, Sydney has the lowest proportion of mortgage holders with little or no equity in their home: just 3.9 per cent (or 33,00 households), down 1.1 percentage points over the last year. "This improvement is due to home prices increasing faster than in most other areas of Australia and outpacing the growth in the average amount owing on mortgages."