Rising home prices have made it tougher for many Americans to buy a home, but there’s an upside for the roughly two-thirds of adults who are already homeowners: a spike in their home equity.Homeowners with mortgages saw the equity in their homes climb by 8.6% — or an average of $24,000 — in the fourth quarter of 2023 compared with a year earlier, according to new data from CoreLogic. Homeowners in Rhode Island, New Jersey and Massachusetts saw even greater gains during that time period, registering growth of $62,000, $55,000 and $53,000, respectively. Those three states led the…