Home Equity Statistics 2026

More than 1 in 5 homeowners have tapped their home equity in the past year, but most are leaving it untouched.

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Key takeaways

  • 22% of homeowners accessed their home equity in the past 12 months. The other 78% left it untouched.
  • Buying a car was the most common use of equity (8%), ahead of renovations (7%), a holiday (6%) and daycare or school fees (6%).
  • 11% of mortgage holders say they cannot refinance to a better deal because they do not have enough equity, part of the 54% who feel locked out of switching.

For many Australians, purchasing a home feels a no-brainer for generating long-term wealth. But new data from Finder's 2026 Home Loan Report shows the majority of homeowners are sitting on that wealth rather than using it.

More than 1 in 5 homeowners (22%) accessed their home equity in the past 12 months. The other 78% left it completely untouched.

For the minority who did tap into it, the reasons were practical rather than aspirational.

At the same time, not every homeowner has equity to spare. Among people still paying off a mortgage, 11% say they simply do not have enough equity to refinance to a better deal.

Let's take a closer look at the relationship the average Aussie homeowner has with their home equity.

What is home equity, and how do you access it?

Before we get into the data, let's quickly run through what home equity actually is.

Home equity is the portion of your property you own outright. For example, if your home is worth $800,000 and you owe $500,000, you have $300,000 in equity. Lenders usually will not let you borrow against all of it, but a portion, known as your usable equity, can often be accessed through a few routes:

How Australians are using their home equity in 2026

Home equity is the share of your property you actually own. It's the difference between what your home is worth and what you still owe on it. As property values have climbed, so has the equity many homeowners hold, at least on paper.

Yet Finder's 2026 Home Loan Report found most homeowners are not touching it. Of the 619 homeowners surveyed, 78% had not accessed any equity in the past year. Among the 22% who had, the money mostly went towards everyday big-ticket costs rather than wealth building.

Here are some of the reasons why Aussies are choosing to tap into their equity:

Reason% of home owners
Did not access any equity78%
Buying a car8%
Renovations7%
A holiday6%
Daycare or school fees6%
Debt recycling (investing)2%

Did you know?

Only 2% of homeowners who accessed their equity used it for investing. Despite years of property price growth handing many Australians substantial equity, the most common use is not building wealth, it's buying a car.

The flip side: locked out by too little equity

Being able to tap into equity assumes you have enough of it to begin with. And for a sizable group of borrowers, that is exactly the problem.

Finder's report found that 11% of mortgage holders cannot refinance to a better deal because the gap between their home's value and their remaining loan is too small to qualify.

They are part of a wider group who feel stuck: 54% of mortgage holders say they cannot switch to a better loan today for reasons largely beyond their control. This situation is commonly known as "mortgage prison".

Could you switch to a better home loan today?% of mortgage holders
Yes, could switch today45%
No, income too low or expenses too high22%
No, on a fixed rate13%
No, not enough equity11%
No, do not know how to switch9%

Ironically, the family home still remains as an Aussie's largest asset, but it's also one of the few places they can turn to when they need access to funds,

While every dollar you borrow against your home is still a debt that needs to be repaid, when used wisely, equity can help build wealth.

The gap between men and women here is the widest in the entire report. While 58% of men say they could switch to a better loan today, only 31% of women say the same, a 27 percentage point difference.

A lot of home equity is sitting still

More than the majority (78%) of homeowners have not touched their equity in the past year, yet 44% of mortgage holders expect to carry their loan into retirement or already are. A great deal of housing wealth is sitting untouched at the same time as mortgage debt is stretching later into people's lives.

For older homeowners who own their property outright but are cash poor, that untapped equity is exactly what products like reverse mortgages are designed to unlock, though they come with their own long-term trade-offs.

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Ceyda Erem is Finder’s senior writer for insurance and has almost 10 years of experience writing about personal finance. Formerly a copywriter for several business and finance clients, Ceyda has written hundreds of articles, guides, blogs and more to ensure Australians stay in the loop about how to best manage their money. She has a Bachelor of Arts, Majoring in Writing from Macquarie University. See full bio

Ceyda's expertise
Ceyda has written 213 Finder guides across topics including:
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