Home Equity Hits Record $17.5 Trillion as 2.4 Million Owners Become Equity Millionaires; Hot CPI Pushes Yields Higher

U.S. mortgage holders ended the third quarter of 2026 with a record amount of housing wealth, even as a hotter-than-expected inflation report on Tuesday, Nov. 10, pushed Treasury yields higher and raised the prospect of renewed upward pressure on mortgage rates.

The figures come from the November 2026 Mortgage Monitor released by Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) on Nov. 9 and the Mortgage Bankers Association's monthly Mortgage Credit Availability Index (MCAI) published Nov. 10, alongside the October consumer price index from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Home equity reaches a third-quarter record

According to the ICE Mortgage Monitor, mortgage holders collectively held $17.5 trillion in home equity in the third quarter, up 1.4% from a year earlier and a record for the period. Tappable equity, the amount a borrower could access while keeping a 20% equity cushion, rose 1.2% to an average of $204,000 per borrower, an increase of $16,600 from a year ago.

ICE said 2.4 million mortgage holders had at least $1 million in equity, a third-quarter record and up 6% year over year. Nearly 9 million held $500,000 or more, up 4%. California accounted for 49% of the nation's equity millionaires, followed by New York with 189,000, New Jersey with 141,000 and Florida with 104,000.

"Homeowners are sitting on substantial housing wealth, with 2.4 million mortgage holders now holding at least $1 million in equity," said Andy Walden, head of mortgage and housing market research at ICE. "In a higher rate environment, cash-outs are making up a greater share of refinances, with those homeowners giving up historically low mortgage rates and taking on higher monthly payments to tap into their equity."

Cash-out refinances and ARMs gain share

The report found that cash-out transactions accounted for about one in seven rate locks in recent weeks, while purchase loans made up roughly 80% of locks. Adjustable-rate mortgages accounted for more than 10% of early October rate locks as 30-year fixed rates moved above 7%. ICE said the points-adjusted spread between 5/1 ARMs and 30-year fixed loans widened from roughly 75 basis points over the summer to more than 100 basis points in early October.

Servicers retained 27% of refinancing borrowers in the quarter, down four percentage points from the prior quarter, while retention among rate-and-term refinancers fell nine points to 30%. Cash-out refinances accounted for 75% of all refinance-portfolio attrition, according to ICE.

Credit availability ticks up after two declines

Separately, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported that its MCAI rose 0.4% to 107.5 in October, indicating slightly looser lending standards. The conventional index increased 0.6% and the government index rose 0.1%. Within conventional lending, the jumbo index climbed 0.8% while the conforming index was unchanged.

"Mortgage credit availability ticked up in October after two months of declines, with greater availability of conventional credit while the government segment remained flat over the month," said Joel Kan, MBA's vice president and deputy chief economist. He said lenders increased offerings of ARM loans for lower loan-to-value borrowers, including some that allow cash-out refinancing, which lifted the jumbo index to its highest level in three months.

Hot CPI lifts yields; shelter a key contributor

The housing data arrived on the same morning the government reported that consumer prices rose 0.4% in October, above the 0.3% economists had expected, while core prices rose 0.3% against a 0.2% forecast, CNBC reported. Shelter costs rose 0.3% and accounted for more than 30% of the monthly headline increase. The BLS did not publish a 12-month inflation rate because last year's government shutdown prevented it from collecting October 2025 data.

Mortgage News Daily's Matthew Graham wrote that the report was "all-around not great for bonds," noting that shorter-term yields were hit hardest and that markets were pricing in a bit more than one full Federal Reserve rate hike in December. Mortgage rates are closely tied to longer-term Treasury yields and mortgage-backed securities, and the 10-year Treasury yield rose to about 5.00% after the data, up from 4.90% at Monday's close, according to Investopedia.

Before the CPI release, rates had been easing. Zillow data cited by Yahoo Finance, gathered as of 3 p.m. ET on Nov. 9, showed the average 30-year fixed purchase rate at 6.93%, up 7 basis points from the prior day, the first daily increase since Oct. 27, but still down 14 basis points from a week earlier.

Realtor.com senior economist Jake Krimmel told Realtor.com News that rising yields and speculation about future rate increases could put upward pressure on mortgage rates again, after the average 30-year fixed rate drifted to 7.18% last week. Realtor.com noted that when rates spiked to 7.4% in October, contract signings and new listings each fell about 10% from September. It also reported that real average hourly earnings were flat in October, as 0.4% wage growth matched 0.4% inflation.

The Fed's next policy meeting is scheduled for Dec. 8-9. At its October meeting, the central bank held its benchmark rate in a range of 3.75% to 4%.