Home Equity Calculator

Enter what the home is worth today and what you still owe. The calculator shows:

• Home equity: value − balance
• Loan-to-value (LTV): balance ÷ value × 100
• Equity stake: 100% minus the LTV

With the defaults, a $450,000 home with $280,000 owed has $170,000 of equity, an LTV of 62.22% and an equity stake of 37.78%.

The last line uses value × 0.85 − balance, never going below zero. At the defaults that is $102,500. The 85% is a fixed setting in this tool, not a rule. There is no federal cap on how much of a home's value you can borrow against. Each lender sets its own maximum combined loan-to-value (CLTV), where CLTV = (first-mortgage balance + new loan or HELOC limit) ÷ appraised value.

Once a lender tells you its limit, recalculate with the same formula. For this home:

• at an 80% limit: $360,000 − $280,000 = $80,000;
• at a 90% limit: $405,000 − $280,000 = $125,000.

Reaching the limit is not the same as being approved for it. Lenders also look at your income, debts and credit.

The balance box should hold everything the house secures, not just the first mortgage. Use the current payoff balance from your statements, not the amount you originally borrowed.

Say you also have a $40,000 home equity line drawn on the same home. Enter $320,000 as the balance:

• equity falls to $130,000;
• LTV rises to 71.11%;
• the borrowable figure at the tool's 85% drops to $62,500.

Leaving the second loan out would show $40,000 of room that a lender would not count.

Your equity is only as accurate as the home value, and lenders use an appraisal rather than an online estimate or a neighbour's sale price. Test a lower value to see how sensitive the result is.

If the home is worth 10% less, $405,000 instead of $450,000, the balance stays at $280,000 but equity drops by the full $45,000 to $125,000. LTV rises to 69.14% and the borrowable figure at 85% falls to $64,250.

If you owe more than the home is worth, the tool shows negative equity. A $300,000 home with $320,000 owed gives −$20,000 of equity, an LTV of 106.67% and nothing borrowable.