Record home equity trapped by higher-rate environment, First American says – Scotsman Guide

October 30, 2026 By Ryan Kingsley

Record home equity trapped by higher-rate environment, First American says Mortgage rate lock-in effects are not only slowing purchase volumes but also sidelining cash-out refinance demand.

More than a quarter-billion kitchen renovations are what the country’s mortgaged homeowners could have undertaken with the $13.2 trillion in accessible equity they held at the end of the second quarter.

But unfortunately, says First American Financial Corp., the largest underwriter of title insurance in the U.S., most of that home equity is not as accessible as it looks. “The housing market is deeply equity rich and rate locked,” said Genaro Villa, a senior economist at First American, in a new analysis examining how persistent mortgage rate lock-in effects are driving record slow housing turnover and distorting borrower equity trends.

Source: Record home equity trapped by higher-rate environment, First American says – Scotsman Guide