Tested tool guide
Tested browser tools
Checked August 16, 2026
What Home Equity Calculator does, with a checked example
Home Equity Calculator turns an estimated property value, current mortgage balance, borrowing ceiling, and appreciation assumption into separate measures of current equity, potential HELOC capacity, and future equity. It distinguishes the home's value from the debt secured against it, then limits modeled borrowing to the selected combined loan-to-value level. The result users most often misread is available equity: it is not the entire value-minus-debt amount, because the CLTV ceiling leaves part of that equity outside the estimated borrowing limit.
Worked example
A concrete input and expected output from the current implementation.
Input
Estimated home value: $400,000
Current mortgage balance: $250,000
HELOC limit: 80% CLTV
->
Expected output
Current home equity: $150,000 (37.5%). Maximum combined secured debt at 80% CLTV: $320,000. Estimated HELOC borrowing room: $70,000.
Current equity is $400,000 - $250,000 = $150,000, which is 37.5% of the home's value. The CLTV ceiling is 0.80 x $400,000 = $320,000; subtracting the existing $250,000 balance leaves $70,000.