Home equity borrowing is rising again. Here’s why it makes sense for homeowners now.

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September 15, 2026 / 9:59 AM EDT / CBS News

If you're a homeowner considering borrowing from your accumulated equity now, you're not the only one. There are hundreds of thousands of homeowners who have already done so so far in 2026, according to the September 2026 Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) Mortgage Monitor Report. And there are likely to be many more before the year is out.

"Nearly 548,000 homeowners tapped a combined $54 billion in equity in the second quarter," the report noted, "marking the most borrowers to tap equity and the second-largest withdrawal volume in a quarter since 2022, trailing only the second quarter of 2025. Second liens continued to drive the majority of equity extraction, with homeowners withdrawing $29.5 billion through home equity loans and lines of credit in the second quarter, down a modest 3% from the cyclical peak reached in the second quarter of 2025."

Overall, the report noted, "mortgage holders withdrew equity equal to about 0.47% of the $11.4 trillion in tappable equity available at the start of the quarter, the highest extraction rate since…

Original source: https://www.cbsnews.com/moneywatch/