--- title: As Home Values Soar, Americans Are Sitting on Record High Home Equity description: Thanks to soaring home prices, Americans sit on record high home equity — trillions of which can be tapped via HELOCs or home equity loans. authors: - name: Leslie Cook role: Editor, Real Estate url: https://money.com/author/leslie-cook/ bio: Leslie Cook is Money’s lead real estate editor covering trends in the housing market, mortgage rates and real estate. She also writes about home renovation trends and tips. education: Bryn Mawr College, BA History certifications: Certified Personal Finance Counselor at_money_since: 2019 articles: 798 covers: - Housing - Banking - Credit - Economy and Politics - Identity Theft - Insurance - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Professional Services - Retirement - Taxes social: - https://twitter.com/LeslieLCook - https://www.linkedin.com/in/leslie-cook-9829b9198/ editors: - name: Brad Tuttle role: Senior Editor url: https://money.com/author/brad-tuttle/ bio: Brad Tuttle is a former senior editor at Money with over 10 years’ experience covering a vast number of personal finance topics, including careers, cars, travel, budgeting, investing, insurance, credit cards, consumer psychology, real estate, banking, and shopping and deals. education: Columbia University School of Journalism, MS at_money_since: 2014 articles: 366 covers: - Housing - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Economy and Politics - Education - Health and Wellness - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Pets - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes - Technology social: - https://twitter.com/bradrtuttle - https://linkedin.com/in/brad-tuttle-834b225 former_staff: true published: '2024-05-08T15:01:13.000Z' modified: '2024-12-11T13:12:40.000Z' section: Housing tags: - News word_count: 484 canonical: https://money.com/record-high-home-equity/ type: NewsArticle source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![Dollar sign, house, and arrow made from folded dollar bills.](https://img.money.com/2024/05/News-Home-Equity-High.jpg) After years of soaring home prices, owners are now sitting on record amounts of equity — trillions of dollars of which they can tap into if needed. According to a new [report](https://www.icemortgagetechnology.com/resources/data-reports/may-2024-mortgage-monitor) by data analytics firm Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), American homeowners with mortgages held nearly $17 trillion in home equity during the first quarter of 2024 — a new record high. What’s more, $11 trillion of that equity is tappable, meaning the homeowner can cash out a portion of their home’s value while maintaining a 20% equity stake in their homes. On average, these homeowners can tap into about $206,000 per mortgage. The impact of this possibility on household finances could be significant. ICE estimates that about 48 million homeowners have some amount of tappable equity, which they can access through a [home equity loan](https://money.com/what-is-a-home-equity-loan/) or a [home equity line of credit (HELOC)](https://money.com/heloc-home-equity-line-of-credit/). ## Tap into your growing home equity with Achieve ### Work with a licensed Achieve representative in your state today! [Learn More](https://money.com/pr/d213e99e36c7?ap_referrer=%2Frecord-high-home-equity%2F) Equal Housing Lender (NMLS ID #1810501). Terms & conditions apply. These loans — sometimes also referred to as second mortgages — have lower interest rates than other types of credit, like personal loans and credit cards. They don’t require refinancing the original loan and can be used to pay off higher-interest debt or unexpected expenses. Two-thirds of all tappable equity is held by consumers with credit scores of 760 or above, making them low-risk for lenders, too. For these high-quality borrowers, “second-lien equity products remain a particularly attractive option for tapping housing wealth without sacrificing a once-in-a-lifetime low rate on their existing mortgage,” said Andy Walden, vice president of enterprise research strategy at ICE, in a press release. ## Home equity gains buoyed by booming market Recent housing market dynamics fueled the boom in home values over the past few years. One outcome of the pandemic was record-low mortgage rates, which set off a homebuying frenzy. Add in the fact that inventory was already low, and the net result is soaring home prices. Even though [mortgage rates](https://money.com/current-mortgage-rates/) are about double their pandemic-era average and buyer demand has cooled over the past two years, there hasn’t been a significant slowdown in price growth. Data from the [National Association of Realtors](https://www.nar.realtor/newsroom/more-than-90-percent-of-metro-areas-home-price-increase-1Q-2024) shows that home prices increased in more than 90% of the country’s metro areas during the first three months of the year. According to Realtor.com, the median listing price moved up to $424,900 in March, up from $415,500 in February. (In March 2020, before the pandemic hit, the median listing price was $320,000.) Overall, [home prices have doubled](https://money.com/cities-home-prices-doubled/) in many markets over the past decade, significantly increasing homeowner wealth. It’s a challenging environment for aspiring homebuyers, and not only due to high prices. “We’re still very much in a hole from an inventory perspective,” Walden said. The situation is quite different for owners who are interested in selling a house or perhaps tapping their equity: “For existing homeowners, the picture keeps growing brighter.” ## Make the most of your home's equity with Achieve ### Work with a licensed Achieve representative in your state today! [Learn More](https://money.com/pr/c6d74f68bd79?ap_referrer=%2Frecord-high-home-equity%2F) Equal Housing Lender (NMLS ID #1810501). Terms & conditions apply. ![](https://s3.consumersadvocate.org/prd/image/image/31824/medium_2ca60362-1306-44a1-a8d1-869c4c9eccca.webp) Use your Home Equity to finance your goals with Achieve (NMLS ID #1810501). [Learn More](https://money.com/pr/r0eeddf3e997?ap_referrer=%2Frecord-high-home-equity%2F) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/record-high-home-equity/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Housing", "item": "https://money.com/housing/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Home Equity", "item": "https://money.com/home-equity/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "As Home Values Soar, Americans Are Sitting on Record High Home Equity" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/record-high-home-equity/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/record-high-home-equity/", "name": "As Home Values Soar, Americans Are Sitting on Record High Home Equity", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2024-05-08T15:01:13.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/record-high-home-equity/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/record-high-home-equity/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2024-12-11T13:12:40.000Z" }, { "@type": "NewsArticle", "headline": "As Home Values Soar, Americans Are Sitting on Record High Home Equity", "articleSection": "Housing", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2024/05/News-Home-Equity-High.jpg", "width": 2880, "height": 1920, "caption": "News-Home-Equity-High" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Leslie Cook", "url": "https://money.com/author/leslie-cook/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/leslie-cook/#author", "description": "Leslie Cook is Money’s lead real estate editor covering trends in the housing market, mortgage rates and real estate. 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