Home equity calculator
See your total equity, estimated usable equity and loan-to-value ratio. Enter your details for an instant estimate.
Use your estimate. A lender may value it differently.
Include all loan splits secured against this property.
What could be possible?
Enter your property value and loan balance to see your estimated usable equity.
The definition
What home equity actually is
Your equity is the share of the property you own outright: its current market value less the balance still owing on the loan secured against it. If the place is worth $900,000 and you owe $520,000, your equity is $380,000.
It grows two ways at once. Every principal repayment reduces the balance, and any rise in the property's value increases the other side. Most of the equity Australian homeowners hold was built by the second of those, not the first, which is why the figure is often much larger than people expect when they finally work it out.
The part you can use
Usable equity, and why it is so much smaller
Lenders will not let you borrow against every dollar of equity. The conventional limit is 80% of the property's value, because lenders mortgage insurance is usually payable once the amount borrowed exceeds 80% of the value of the property.1 So usable equity is 80% of the value, less what you still owe.
- Property value
- $900,000
- 80% of value
- $720,000
- Less the loan balance
- $520,000
- Usable equity
- $200,000
Total equity in that example is $380,000 and usable equity is $200,000. The $180,000 difference is not missing, it is simply the buffer the lender insists on keeping between your borrowing and the value of their security. You can borrow into it, but you will pay LMI to do so.
One caveat worth stating plainly: usable equity is a rule of thumb about pricing, not an approval. What you can actually borrow depends on income, expenses, existing debts and the lender's own valuation of the property. Plenty of people have usable equity on paper and no borrowing capacity at all.
1 Moneysmart (ASIC), lenders mortgage insurance (LMI), glossary, retrieved 28 July 2026.
What it is for
What people actually do with it
Equity is not income and accessing it is not a windfall. Every option below increases what you owe against the same property, raises your repayments, and pushes your loan to value ratio back up.
- A deposit on another property. The most common use, and the one that turns equity into a second set of repayments. Lenders will assess the new borrowing on its own merits.
- Renovation. Borrowing against the property to improve the property. Some of the spend usually returns as value, though rarely all of it and rarely immediately.
- Consolidating more expensive debt. Moving a personal loan or card balance onto a mortgage rate lowers the interest rate and stretches the term, which can mean paying more in total despite the lower rate.
- Refinancing on better terms. The one that does not increase your borrowing. More equity means a lower LVR, and a lower LVR means access to sharper pricing tiers. How much equity you need to refinance covers the thresholds.
The catch
Both inputs move, so the answer expires
The property portals track the asset and ignore the debt. Lenders track the debt and ignore the asset. Your position is the two together, and both of them move: your balance falls a little each month, and the property's value shifts with the market around it, tracked monthly across Australia by Cotality's Home Value Index. The movement runs in both directions. National values fell 0.4% in June 2026, the largest month-on-month fall since December 2022, and were down 0.7% over the June quarter while still up 7.3% year on year, with a national median dwelling value of $937,722.2 Your equity is therefore different today than it was when you last thought about it, and not always in the direction you would guess.
That matters because the useful moments are crossings, not levels. Crossing under 80% is when repricing becomes worth asking for. Reaching enough usable equity for a deposit is when a plan becomes possible. And it cuts both ways: a fall in value can push your LVR back over a pricing tier while you are busy living your life. None of these moments announces itself, and your lender has no incentive to mention the first one.
If you want the figure without having to remember to check, how property value estimates work explains where the value half of the equation comes from and how much to trust it.
2 Cotality, Home Value Index, July 2026 release, released 1 July 2026, reporting June 2026 data.
Common questions.
What is the difference between equity and usable equity?
Equity is what the property is worth less what you owe. Usable equity is the part of it a lender will let you borrow against without charging lenders mortgage insurance, conventionally 80% of the value less your balance. The gap between the two is large. On an $900,000 property with $520,000 owing, equity is $380,000 and usable equity is $200,000.
How much equity do I need to avoid LMI?
Enough to keep the new loan at or below 80% of the property's value. Lenders mortgage insurance is generally payable when the amount borrowed exceeds 80% of the value of the property, so 20% equity is the conventional threshold. It applies to the total borrowing after whatever you are doing, not to your position before it.
Does the bank use my valuation or theirs?
Theirs, always. A lender orders its own valuation and lends against that figure, which can land either side of an online estimate. Automated estimates are useful for knowing roughly where you stand and for spotting when it is worth asking, but no lender will lend against one. Treat any number you calculate at home as an indication.
Can I use equity without selling the property?
Yes, that is the usual reason people work it out. Lenders can increase your loan, add a split, or approve a line of credit secured against the same property. You are borrowing more money against the same asset, so the repayments go up and the loan to value ratio goes back up with them. It is not free money and it is not income.
Does money in my offset account count as equity?
No. An offset balance reduces the interest you are charged but it does not reduce your loan balance, so it does not change your equity or your LVR. It is your money sitting beside the loan rather than inside it. That is also what makes it useful, because you can take it back out without asking anyone.
Sources & content review
Market figures are point in time published figures, checked each time this page is reviewed.
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