Calculate your home equity
Calculate your usable equity and find out how you can use it to help finance your renovation or buy your next home.
Get one of the lowest home loan rates on the market.
What is home equity and how is it calculated?
To calculate the equity you have in your home, you take the difference between the value of your home and the outstanding balance on your home loan.
Using equity in your home to make improvements to your existing property can be a great way to add value to the property, and you can also use your equity to invest in a new property. It can be useful to understand how much equity you have in your home.
To use our home equity calculator, simply fill in a few details like the estimated value of your property and the outstanding balance of your home loan. Keep in mind that your estimated usable equity is based on 80% of the estimated value of the property and subject to other factors such as fees and other costs which will be different for each lender.
Here’s an example to demonstrate:
- If your property is worth $800,000
- Your loan balance is $500,000
- Equity = Property Value – Loan Balance
- Therefore, $800,000 – $500,000 = $300,000 in Equity
If you’re not sure what your property is worth, loans.com.au has free property reports to give you an idea of property value based on factors including recent sale prices for comparable properties in the area, and median sale prices in the area.
FAQs
How do you build up your equity?
Here are two main ways to build up equity in your home:
1. Increase the value of your home
When the value of your home rises, the equity does too. A home's value may rise because of capital growth. You may also consider performing some value-adding renovations to your home, such as upgrading the kitchen or bathroom or even building another bedroom.
2. Make bigger repayments
The equity in your home loan grows as you make each repayment. If you can afford to add a few extra dollars to your regular repayments, you can also reduce the term of your loan and save the amount of interest you pay. You can either do this by making additional repayments, paying both principal interest, or even adding an offset sub-account to your home loan.
How can you use equity to your advantage?
If you have a significant amount of equity in your home, it can open up a number of doors to use these funds.
Many homeowners use equity for:
- Home renovations - Many people withdraw equity for renovation because they want to add value to their property or need to renovate to accommodate changing life circumstances.
- Purchasing another property - Saving for a house deposit can take years, but if you have equity used as a deposit, you may be able to buy a second property sooner.
How do you borrow against the equity in your home?
The equity from your home or investment property can be used as a deposit on a second property, while your current property becomes a security on the new debt. This allows you to buy a second property with no cash deposit. Keep in mind that you'll need more than the deposit - stamp duty and legal fees will have to be factored in.
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Next steps
I'm buying my next home
We can help with low rate home loans for your next home.
I'm refinancing
Ready to get a lower rate home loan? We’re here to help you start saving thousands and can help you add an offset to your next loan.
I'm buying my first home
Time to enter the property market? Let us help you get the keys to your first home.
I'm building a home
Our friendly team are help you with low rate construction loans.
Ready to get started?
Whether you’re ready to buy your first property and start building equity in your home, or you’ve owned your property for a while and are ready to put your equity to good use, we have the tools and tips to help.
Important things to know
Total equity
Total equity is the estimated value of the property entered by the user, less the loan balance entered by the user.
Estimated usable equity
Estimated useable equity is 80% of the estimated value of the property less the loan balance. This is not necessarily the amount you would be able to borrow, as financiers' lending criteria depends on a number of matters.
The calculation does not approve your loan
The calculator results are based purely on the details you’ve entered. Our lending criteria needs to take additional factors into account. To get approval for any of our home loans, apply now or chat to our friendly team and we’re here to help.