California Homeowners Are Sitting on $627K in Equity—but It’s Worth Far More if They Leave

The typical California homeowner with a mortgage now has $626,900 in home equity, according to new data. That's roughly twice the national average of $310,500—and enough to purchase the median-priced home outright in 48 states.There’s just one catch: That wealth goes further almost anywhere but California.Today, the median home there is listed at roughly $750,000, according to data from Realtor.com®. Meanwhile, the California Association of Realtors puts the median price of an existing single-family home at $904,640That gap captures a much larger divide in the housing market. Nationally, mortgaged homeowners held $17.9 trillion in net equity in the first quarter of 2026, according to the latest home equity report from Cotality—roughly five times as much as 15 years ago. But the opportunity created by that wealth looks vastly different depending on where homeowners live.“This large store of housing wealth continues to support household net worth, but it also keeps many homeowners handcuffed and contributes to a slower-moving housing market,” explains Selma Hepp, Cotality’s chief economist.California puts an unusual twist on those golden handcuffs. Owners may be reluctant to give up ...