{"id":19,"date":"2026-10-10T17:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-10-10T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.room-vu.com\/mrkenmortgage-com\/2026\/10\/10\/homeowners-sit-on-record-equity-why-most-still-cant-afford-to-move-up-in-2026\/"},"modified":"2026-10-10T17:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-10-10T17:00:00","slug":"homeowners-sit-on-record-equity-why-most-still-cant-afford-to-move-up-in-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mrkenmortgage.com\/blog\/2026\/10\/10\/homeowners-sit-on-record-equity-why-most-still-cant-afford-to-move-up-in-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Homeowners Sit on Record Equity \u2014 Why Most Still Can&#8217;t Afford to Move Up in 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"roomvu-news-container\">\n<p>It\u2019s a unique time for homeowners: in Q2 2026, U.S. mortgage holders reached a staggering $18 trillion in home equity\u2014a new record. Yet, despite all that equity on paper, many find themselves stuck. Replacement mortgage rates hovering around 7%, along with increased taxes and insurance costs, are making it tough for folks to move up. Instead, I\u2019m seeing more clients weighing renovations, renting, downsizing, or even exploring bridge financing just to make a move feasible. After 30 years in the mortgage world\u2014especially helping self-employed borrowers navigate these twists\u2014I know how critical it is to find loan solutions that fit real-life situations, not just what looks good on a spreadsheet. Every homeowner\u2019s path is different, and sometimes, having options beyond the obvious is what keeps dreams moving forward.<\/p>\n<p>\t<a class=\"roomvu-news-continue\" href=\"https:\/\/www.noradarealestate.com\/blog\/homeowners-record-equity-cant-afford-move-up\/\"><\/p>\n<div>Continue to full article<\/div>\n<p>\t<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s a unique time for homeowners: in Q2 2026, U.S. mortgage holders reached a staggering $18 trillion in home equity\u2014a new record. Yet, despite all that equity on paper, many find themselves stuck. Replacement mortgage rates hovering around 7%, along with increased taxes and insurance costs, are making it tough for folks to move up. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":564,"featured_media":20,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-posts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mrkenmortgage.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mrkenmortgage.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mrkenmortgage.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mrkenmortgage.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/564"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mrkenmortgage.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.mrkenmortgage.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mrkenmortgage.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mrkenmortgage.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mrkenmortgage.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mrkenmortgage.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}