home equity

American  

[hohm ek-wi-tee] / ˈhoʊm ˈɛk wɪ ti /

noun

Personal Finance.

1. the value of the portion of a person’s home that is free of debt, as mortgages, claims, liens, etc., and which the homeowner actually owns, calculated by subtracting the amount owed to lenders from the current market value of the home.

   Home equity can increase or decrease significantly with fluctuations in the local real estate market.

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Etymology

Origin of home equity

First recorded in 1895–1900

Example Sentences

Higher-end shoppers, meanwhile, are being buoyed by a rising stock market, growing home equity and sometimes pay increases as well.

From Barron's

Higher-end shoppers, meanwhile, are being buoyed by a rising stock market, growing home equity and sometimes pay increases as well.

From Barron's

“The main form of most people’s retirement savings — except the very wealthy — is their house, not the market. Lower-income people are less likely to be homeowners and they tend to have less home equity. They’re less likely to be able to sell their homes or do a reverse mortgage and live off the proceeds.”

From MarketWatch

Tyler is not challenging the propriety of the seizure or sale, but of the county’s home equity theft.

From Washington Post

With Wednesday’s home equity theft case, and with two other cases heard last fall, the PLF has 5 percent of the court’s docket this term.

From Washington Post