Home Equity Calculator

What the Home Equity Calculator does

This calculator answers two different questions that people often conflate: how much equity do I have, and how much of it can I actually borrow. The first is simple subtraction — home value minus what is secured against it. The second depends entirely on which product you use to access it, and the gap between the two numbers routinely surprises homeowners who assume their full equity is available to spend.

Rather than showing one number, it lays out what you can access through a refinance, a standalone HELOC, a readvanceable HELOC, a second mortgage and a reverse mortgage side by side, then routes you toward whichever one actually fits the reason you are borrowing.

• Your total equity and current loan-to-value
• Accessible equity broken out by refinance, HELOC, second mortgage and reverse mortgage
• Appreciation since purchase, in dollars and as an annualised return
• A recommended product based on what you say you would use the money for
• An estimated monthly cost of accessing the recommended amount

The key variables that move the answer — and how lenders treat them

Three things decide how much of your equity is actually reachable, and none of them is simply "how much the house is worth."

• Loan-to-value ceiling — each product has a hard cap set by regulation or lender policy: 80% for a refinance, 65% for a standalone HELOC, 80% combined for a readvanceable HELOC, and commonly 85 to 90% for a private second mortgage. A reverse mortgage runs on a completely different scale, tied to age rather than a flat percentage.
• What is already secured against the property — your existing mortgage balance and any second charge reduce every one of these ceilings dollar for dollar. Two homes worth the same amount can have very different accessible equity if one carries more existing debt.
• What the money is for — lenders and brokers do not treat every equity-access purpose the same way. A renovation or debt consolidation typically points toward a HELOC or refinance; an investment property down payment often needs a refinance to free up enough cash at once; retirement income with no monthly payment obligation is a reverse mortgage conversation, not a HELOC one.

How accessible equity is actually calculated in Canada

Total equity is simple: home value minus every dollar currently secured against the property. Accessible equity is a separate calculation for each product, applying that product's specific loan-to-value ceiling to the same home value and then subtracting what is already secured.

A refinance or readvanceable HELOC can reach 80% of value combined with existing debt. A standalone HELOC, registered on its own rather than bundled with a mortgage, is capped lower at 65% under OSFI guidance. A private second mortgage is not subject to the same federal LTV constraint and can commonly go to 85 or 90%, which is exactly why it costs more — the lender is taking materially more risk. A reverse mortgage works differently again: the accessible percentage rises with the age of the youngest owner on title, from roughly 20% at 55 up to around 55% by the mid-80s, because the lender is pricing in how long the loan is expected to remain outstanding.

• Total equity = home value − total secured debt
• Refinance / readvanceable HELOC accessible = home value × 80% − total secured debt
• Standalone HELOC accessible = home value × 65% − total secured debt
• Private second mortgage accessible = home value × (85–90%) − total secured debt
• Reverse mortgage accessible = home value × age-based percentage − total secured debt

What you get from this calculator, and how lenders use these numbers

Every figure here is the starting point of a specific underwriting conversation, not just an interesting statistic.

• Total equity — the number that determines whether accessing more debt against the home is realistic at all before any product-specific ceiling is applied.
• Current LTV — the single most important input into which products you even qualify to be considered for, and roughly how competitively they will be priced.
• Accessible equity by product — this is the actual ceiling a lender will underwrite to, not an aspirational figure, and it is usually well below total equity.
• Appreciation — while it does not change how much you can borrow today, it is the reason equity exists to access in the first place, and it is often the number that prompts the conversation.

Using your results well

Use the recommended product as a starting point for a conversation, not a final decision. The right product depends on your credit profile, income documentation, how long you plan to hold the property, and whether you need a lump sum once or ongoing revolving access — none of which this calculator can fully see from six inputs.

What this page deliberately does not do is give you a firm approval or a real rate quote. Every accessible-equity figure assumes an appraisal will confirm the value you entered, and every monthly cost figure is illustrative rather than a lender-specific quote. Follow through to the calculator built for your specific product — HELOC, debt consolidation, or private mortgage — for the next level of detail.

• Start with the product matched to your stated purpose, then compare it against the alternatives shown
• Remember accessible equity is always well below total equity — plan against the smaller number
• Get an appraisal before treating any figure here as final
• If retirement income with no monthly payment is the goal, go straight to the reverse mortgage numbers

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