As a homeowner, there’s nothing better than watching your nest egg grow. Having equity can open different opportunities and benefits, especially when it comes to refinancing your home loan.
What is home equity?
Your home equity is the proportion of your home that you own outright. Overtime, the equity in your home is likely to increase due to several factors, including:
- Making regular repayments towards the principal, or the amount outstanding, of your home loan,
- Undertaking renovations or improvements to increase the value of your home, and
- Improvements in the property market leading to an increase in property value.
How do I work out my home equity?
If you’re keen to work out how much equity you currently have tied up in your home, all it takes is one simple calculation. Simply minus the amount owing on your mortgage from the current market value of your property, and you’ll be left with the equity.
For example, if your home is currently valued at $700,000 and you still have $400,000 outstanding on your home loan, you have $300,000 of equity. But just because you have $300,000 of equity in your home doesn’t mean you have access to all of it. That’s where usable equity comes in.
What is usable equity?
Most banks will only lend up to 80% of a property’s market value. Once you take away the amount still owing on your loan, you should be left with your usable equity.
Based on the figures above, 80% of the current market value of your $700,000 home is $560,000. If you still owe $400,000, you actually have $160,000 of usable equity.
Why is equity important for refinancing?
Your home equity plays a key role if and when it comes time to refinance. The more equity you have in your property, the lower your loan to value ratio (LVR).
How to tap into your home equity
While equity is an important factor that lenders consider during the refinancing process, there are several ways to access your home equity without refinancing your existing home loan.
One of the main ways to access your equity without refinancing is by taking out a home equity loan, also known as a a second mortgage. A home equity loan is a type of mortgage that allows you to borrow against your home equity.
Here are the two basic types of home equity loans to familiarise yourself with.
Line of credit
A line of credit works in a similar way to a credit card. Borrowers are approved to reborrow funds up to a pre-defined limit, if and when they need access to the funds. Your mortgage repayments will be adjusted based on the amount you’ve borrowed through your line of credit, meaning that you’ll only be charged interest on the amount that you borrow.
Lump sum
A lump sum is similar to a personal loan, car loan or mortgage. This type of home equity loan uses your equity as security to borrow a large sum of money. Like other types of loans, you’ll pay back the borrowed amount over time with the addition of interest, at either a fixed or variable rate.
Reverse mortgage
Another type of home equity loan is the reverse mortgage - however, this type of mortgage is only usually available to retirees. A reverse mortgage allows the homeowner to release a portion of their equity as a lump sum, line of credit or as regular repayments. This can provide retirees with cash to support their living expenses. Reverse mortgages often attract higher interest rates than standard mortgages. While the homeowner doesn’t have to make repayments while they’re living in the property, when they move or sell the loan amount must be repaid in full with interest.
What can I use my home equity loan for?
Homeowners take out home equity loans for all sorts of reasons, including:
- Buying an investment property: Rather than trying to save on top of repaying your existing mortgage, a home equity loan can provide the funds needed for a down payment on an investment property.
- Funding renovations: Many people build up equity in their homes to pay for future improvements and renovations. A home equity loan can allow you to tap into these funds to carry out your renovations and, in turn, increase the value of your home.
- Supporting other big-ticket purchases: Your home equity can also be used to fund other big purchases, like a new car, establishing a business or supporting your child’s education.
- Paying off other debt: If you have other debt, like a personal loan or credit card debt, that’s being charged at a higher interest rate than your home loan, you can free up your equity to pay off these debts.
Learn more about the refinancing process and whether it’s right for you here.
This article is intended to provide general information only. It does not have regard to the financial situation or needs of any reader and must not be relied upon as financial product advice. Please consider seeking financial advice before making any decision based on this information.
This article is intended to provide general information only. It does not have regard to the financial situation or needs of any reader and must not be relied upon as financial product advice. Please consider seeking financial advice before making any decision based on this information.
Unloan is a division of Commonwealth Bank of Australia.
Applications are subject to credit approval; satisfactory security and you must have a minimum 20% equity in the property. Minimum loan amount $10,000, maximum loan amount $10,000,000.
^ Unloan offers a 0.01% per annum discount on the Unloan Live-In rate or Unloan Invest rate upon settlement. On each anniversary of your loan’s settlement date (or the day prior to the anniversary of your loan’s settlement date if your loan settled on 29th February and it is a leap year) the margin discount will increase by a further 0.01% per annum up to a maximum discount of 0.30% per annum. This discount is applied to each loan that you have with Unloan. If you have multiple loans (e.g. one investor and one live-in loan), they will each have a discount calculated based on when you settled each loan. Unloan may withdraw this discount at any time.
There are no fees from Unloan. However, there are some mandatory Government costs depending on your state when switching your home loan. For convenience, Unloan adds this amount to the loan balance on settlement.
* Other third-party fees may apply. Government charges may apply. Your other lender may charge an exit fee when refinancing.
