Key facts
- ICE reported tappable equity averaged $204,000 per borrower, $16,600 more than a year earlier.
- Cash-out refinances made up about one in seven rate locks, while purchase loans were roughly 80%, ICE said.
- Cash-out refinances accounted for 75% of refinance-related servicing attrition in the third quarter, ICE said.
- Only 15% of cash-out borrowers with prior loans from 2019 or earlier stayed with their servicer, ICE said.
- ICE's Andy Walden said cash-out borrowers give up low mortgage rates and take on higher monthly payments.
Mortgage holders held a record $17.5 trillion in home equity in the third quarter, up 1.4% from a year earlier, according to Intercontinental Exchange's November Mortgage Monitor report published on November 9, 2026.
Tappable equity, the amount owners can borrow against while keeping at least 20% equity, rose 1.2% to an average of $204,000 per borrower, $16,600 more than a year earlier, ICE said. Rising home values also produced 2.4 million equity millionaires, homeowners with at least $1 million in tappable equity, up 6% year over year.
With 30-year fixed mortgage rates above 7% in early October, rate-and-term refinances remain scarce and most refinance activity is driven by borrowers seeking cash. Cash-out refinances accounted for about one in seven rate locks in recent weeks, while purchase loans made up roughly 80% of locks, according to ICE.
Cash-out refinances represented 75% of all refinance-related servicing attrition in the third quarter, ICE said, indicating most borrowers who tap equity do so with a different lender or investor. Overall servicer retention for refinancing borrowers fell to 27% in the third quarter, down four percentage points from the prior quarter. Retention among rate-and-term refinancers dropped nine points to 30%, while cash-out retention held at 26%.
Servicers performed worst with borrowers whose previous loans originated in 2019 or earlier. Only 15% of those cash-out borrowers were retained by their prior servicer.
"In a higher rate environment, cash-outs are making up a greater share of refinances, with those homeowners giving up historically low mortgage rates and taking on higher monthly payments to tap into their equity," Andy Walden, head of mortgage and housing market research at ICE, said in a statement.