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Americans are rethinking the role of home equity in retirement
A home has long meant more to its owners than a place to live. It’s a source of stability, family memory, and long-term security for millions of Americans. But for many of these households, it’s also the single largest financial asset they own.
Homeowners want to put this value to use. Boldin, the DIY retirement planning platform, sees this in its own data. Homeowners have already tapped into more than $45 billion in equity during the first three months of 2026, according to a report from Intercontinental Exchange. Much of this tapped, and untapped, equity has been the subject of many tips and tricks guides of how to use home equity to meet financial needs.
Retirement used to be thought of as something you planned for and arrived at, a period of your life to catch up on recreation and time with family. That outlook has changed. Potential program cuts, extended working years, and rising household costs have made retirement feel further off for many people, and homeowners could look to their home equity as part of the answer.
The Traditional Retirement Home Model Is Changing
The old retirement housing path was simple: work for decades, pay off the mortgage, stay in the family home, pass it on. It was never universal, but it was the default.
According to the Federal Reserve, housing remains the single largest asset for many retirees, often exceeding the value of their retirement savings. Older Americans now hold more than $14.66 trillion in home equity. Boomers alone control an estimated $18 trillion to $19 trillion in real estate. That’s more than half of all homeowners’ combined $34.5 trillion.
That’s a lot of wealth sitting in a single, hard-to-access asset. A 2026 Schroders survey found that retirees’ top concerns range from inflation and healthcare costs to not knowing how to draw income or whether their savings will last. With those pressures in the picture, home equity is quickly becoming a viable strategy for many households to help make up for their savings gap during retirement, yet experts caution putting all eggs in one basket. So, the question remains: Should home equity be part of a broader retirement strategy?
Converting Home Equity Into Retirement Income Is Rarely Simple
Longer life expectancy, rising healthcare costs, market volatility, and uncertainty around long-term care mean more households have to account for every asset they have, including the one they live in.
Downsizing has been the conventional answer: Sell the house, unlock equity, add it to savings. It sounds clean. But data from the National Association of Realtors shows that many retirees aren’t downsizing as much as expected. They’re buying similarly sized homes for single-level living or to accommodate visiting relatives, with far less equity being unlocked. The decision to downsize is more complicated than advice typically acknowledges.
Many retirees don’t want to leave their communities. Others may find that downsizing their home doesn’t create the savings they expected after accounting for realtor commissions, moving costs, taxes, renovations, and HOA fees. The current market isn’t helping. The median existing-home price hit $408,800 in March, a new record for the month. Today, almost twice as many older households spend over half of their income on housing compared to 20 years ago.
Reverse mortgages are an option for owners looking to access home equity without selling. While they’re not right for everyone, retirees and pre-retirees are bringing them up in planning conversations more than they used to.
Home equity can be a significant resource for households worried about outliving their savings. The value is there, but turning it into income requires a plan.
Retirement Housing Decisions Increasingly Require Scenario Planning
According to 2024 research from Charles Schwab, 64% of Americans don’t have a documented financial plan, and fewer still have one that accounts for housing decisions.
The questions are specific. How would selling the home affect taxes and investment income? What happens if mobility declines and the current house no longer works? What if long-term care becomes necessary? What does the retirement picture look like if housing markets weaken?
Financial experts warn against assuming home equity is always there to draw from, or writing it off entirely. Modeling housing decisions alongside income, taxes, and healthcare helps retirees figure out when, and whether, tapping home equity actually makes sense.
The data reflects how central these questions have become. Across 477,469 AI Planner conversations from Boldin’s active consumer base through early June, real estate ranked among the most common planning topics. Housing came up in 10% of conversations (48,030) because of how closely it connects to income, tax, and relocation decisions. Of those conversations (which may involve multiple topics), downsizing came up in 57% of them, buying or a new purchase in 39%, selling in 23%, and reverse mortgages in 4%.
Housing isn’t an edge case in retirement planning. It’s a mainstream concern.
The Home Is Central to Modern Retirement Planning
A home is tied to independence, identity, and long-term security in ways that make it one of the most personal decisions in any retirement plan.
For some households, home equity stays as a legacy asset. For others, it becomes a source of flexibility or a buffer against costs that arrive later than expected. The modern challenge of retiring “on-time” or in the traditional capacity is understanding how to coordinate all of the resources available, including housing wealth, to create a retirement that lasts decades.
Retirement is changing, so it’s no surprise the methods are changing too.
This story was produced by Boldin and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.
