Home equity calculator
Your equity is what your home is worth less what you owe on it, but only part of it can be borrowed. This estimates how much a refinance or a home equity line of credit could free up under Canada’s lending limits, and what borrowing a chosen amount would cost each way. Nothing you enter leaves your browser, and there is no sign-up.
Your home and mortgage
Borrowing costs
How much you’d like to access
Estimate · your home equity
About $450,000 of equity, and 50% of the value borrowed
Equity is what the home is worth less everything borrowed against it. Not all of it can be borrowed: lenders keep at least 20% of the value as a cushion, so the most anyone could access is the room between what you owe and 80% of the value.
Your home’s value, $900,000
The lines mark 65% of the value, the most a HELOC’s revolving part can reach, and 80%, the most all borrowing together can reach.
By refinancing
$268,500
All borrowing secured on the home, up to 80% of its value ($720,000). That leaves $270,000 of room, less $1,500 for the closing costs added to the loan.
With a HELOC
$270,000
The revolving part can reach 65% of the value ($585,000), and the mortgage and HELOC together 80%. Here the 80% total is the limit that applies.
Accessing $100,000, three ways
| Side by side | Refinance | HELOC, interest only | HELOC, paid down over 10 years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Added to what goes out each month | $652 more | $413 | $1,058 |
| Closing costs | $1,500 | not included | not included |
| Extra interest over 5 years | $21,871 | $24,750 | $19,636 |
| Cost over 5 years, all in | $23,371 | $24,750 | $19,636 |
| Still owed after 5 years | $84,241 | $100,000 | $56,144 |
The refinance replaces the whole mortgage at the refinance rate over the same amortization, so its figures include the new rate on the balance you already owe, and are measured against keeping today’s mortgage. The HELOC columns leave the mortgage as it is and count only the HELOC. HELOC setup costs (appraisal, legal registration) are not included; some lenders cover them. Interest-only keeps the payment low but repays nothing, so the full amount is still owed after 5 years.
Maximums are not approvals
The 65% and 80% figures are regulatory ceilings for federally regulated lenders. They are not what anyone will be offered. What a lender would actually approve depends on your income, your other debts, your credit, the appraisal and the mortgage stress test, and some lenders set lower limits of their own.
Estimates based on the information entered. Mortgage interest uses the Canadian semi-annual compounding standard; HELOC interest is charged monthly and assumes the rate stays where it is, which a prime-based rate will not. Your lender’s numbers will differ.
For informational purposes only. You may wish to confirm any figure with a licensed mortgage professional before deciding anything.
How the estimate works
The two limits
Federally regulated lenders can lend against a home up to 80% of its value, counting the mortgage and any line of credit together. The revolving part, a HELOC, can reach no more than 65% of the value; anything between 65% and 80% has to be an amortizing mortgage that gets paid down. The calculator takes the room under 80%, and for a HELOC the smaller of that and the room under 65%.
The refinance
The whole mortgage is replaced by a larger one at the refinance rate, over the amortization you have left, with any penalty and the legal and appraisal costs added to the balance. Because the new rate applies to what you already owe as well, the cost is measured against keeping today’s mortgage, and the part that comes from the rate alone is shown separately. Interest compounds semi-annually, the Canadian standard.
The HELOC
A HELOC sits beside the mortgage and leaves it untouched. Interest is charged monthly on what has been drawn, at prime plus a spread. We show it two ways: paying interest only, which keeps the payment low and repays nothing, and paying it down in equal monthly payments over the period you choose. Both assume prime holds for five years, which it will not.
What it cannot see
Your income, debts and credit, which decide what a lender would actually approve, and the appraisal, which may come in above or below your estimate. Provincially regulated credit unions and private lenders work to their own limits. A broker can tell you what lenders would offer for your situation; if you’re breaking a term to refinance, the break penalty calculator estimates the penalty.
Last reviewed 28 September 2026. Sources: OSFI Guideline B-20, Residential Mortgage Underwriting Practices and Procedures (65% HELOC limit, 80% conventional limit) and its June 2022 clarification on combined loan plans (borrowing above 65% must amortize; the overall limit cannot exceed 80%); Financial Consumer Agency of Canada, Borrowing money using home equity. Prime rate from the Bank of Canada, 4.45% as of 23 September 2026.
Common questions
- How much equity can I borrow against my home in Canada?
- With a federally regulated lender, everything secured on the home together, the mortgage and any HELOC, can reach up to 80% of its appraised value. So on a $900,000 home with a $450,000 mortgage, the most that could be borrowed is about $270,000: 80% of the value is $720,000, less the $450,000 already owed. The remaining 20% stays as a cushion. That is a ceiling set by the rules, not an amount anyone is promised; income, credit and the stress test decide what a lender would actually approve.
- What is the difference between a HELOC and a refinance?
- A refinance replaces your mortgage with a larger one, usually at a new rate, and you receive the difference as cash. The whole balance is then repaid on a regular schedule. A HELOC is a line of credit secured on the home: you draw what you need, pay interest only on what you have drawn, and can usually pay interest only. A refinance tends to carry a lower rate and a forced repayment schedule; a HELOC is more flexible but priced off prime, so its rate moves, and interest-only payments never reduce what you owe.
- How much can I borrow with a HELOC?
- Under OSFI's Guideline B-20, the revolving part of a HELOC from a federally regulated lender can reach at most 65% of the home's value. If it is combined with a mortgage, the two together can reach 80%, but anything above 65% has to be the amortizing mortgage part. Many homeowners with a mortgage find the 80% total is the limit that applies to them. Credit unions regulated by the province can set their own limits.
- Do I need to qualify for a HELOC?
- Yes. A lender looks at your income, your other debts and your credit, and has to confirm you could afford the payments at a qualifying rate higher than the one you would pay, the same stress test used for mortgages. Equity alone is not enough. A HELOC can also be reduced or frozen by the lender later, which is worth knowing if you are counting on it for a future expense.
- Can I get a HELOC in the middle of my mortgage term?
- Often, yes. If your mortgage is registered as a collateral charge, your current lender may be able to add or increase a HELOC without breaking the mortgage, subject to qualifying and an appraisal. If it is registered as a standard charge, adding a HELOC with the same lender may mean re-registering, and a HELOC with a different lender would sit in second position, which fewer lenders offer. Breaking the mortgage to refinance mid-term usually means a prepayment penalty, which the calculator lets you include.
- What is a collateral charge mortgage?
- It is a way of registering a mortgage on title for more than you borrow, sometimes up to the full value of the home. It makes it easier to borrow more from the same lender later, for example through a HELOC, without new legal work. The trade-off is that it can make switching lenders at renewal more involved, because the new lender cannot simply take over the registration. Your mortgage documents, or your lender, can tell you which type you have.
- Is anything I enter stored or shared?
- No. The calculator runs entirely in your browser and nothing you type is sent to us.