Nearly half of all mortgaged homes in the U.S. are equity-rich, and nearly half of all homeowners say they’re not planning to move.
Those two facts, put together, represent the biggest listing opportunity in the market right now.
ATTOM’s Q1 2026 Home Equity & Underwater Report, released last week, found that 43.3% of mortgaged residential properties are equity-rich, meaning the homeowner owes less than half of what the home is currently worth.
A separate survey from Point found that 48% of homeowners are sitting out their move this year, citing rate lock-in and general uncertainty.
There are millions of homeowners sitting on equity who think they’re stuck. Your job is to show them they’re not.
How much equity are homeowners actually sitting on?
The ATTOM data is national, but the state-level numbers are where this gets useful for agents.
Some highlights:
- Vermont leads the country at 85.7% equity rich
- New Hampshire (58.1%), Montana (57.7%), Rhode Island (57.2%), and Hawaii (55.8%) round out the top five
- Florida fell from 49.3% to 43.2% and Arizona dropped from 49.8% to 44.2%. But even in those states, roughly four in ten homeowners still have at least 50% equity
Metro-level data tells a similar story:
- San Jose tops the list at 65.2%, followed by Los Angeles (59.3%) and San Diego (58.2%)
- Buffalo, NY came in at 56.7%
- 11 of the top 30 counties for equity-rich rates were in Michigan
While the overall share of equity-rich homes is down from 44.6% last quarter and at its lowest point since Q4 2021, 43.3% is still historically strong.
Why Aren’t These Homeowners Moving?
Homeowners who locked in mortgages at 3%, and who don’t need to move, have a compelling financial reason to stay put.
With 30-year rates sitting at 6.42% and the Fed signaling no cuts until late 2027, homeowners with a 3% rate don’t want to trade into a payment that’s double what they’re used to. On the surface, the logic makes sense.
What these mortgage holders aren’t calculating is what their equity actually does to that math. A homeowner with 50%+ equity can put a significantly larger down payment on their next home, which offsets much of the rate difference.
Some can buy outright. Others can bridge with a HELOC or sell and rent while they wait.
They just need someone to walk them through it.
Script to Start New Conversations
So you’ve got the data. Now, what do you actually say?
We ran this scenario through the BAMx AI Script Advisor, the tool VIP BAMx members use to generate scripts for exactly these kinds of conversations, and here’s the play it built for this equity data.
The opening call
“Hey [Name], quick thing I wanted to pass along. ATTOM just put out a report showing 43% of homeowners across the country are equity rich right now. I’m not calling to push you to sell. I just want to make sure you actually know how much equity you have, and what it means for your options. Worth a 15-minute call this week so I can walk you through it?”
When they say “We’re not planning to move”
“Totally get it, and that’s not why I’m calling. But can I ask you one quick question? If you knew exactly how much equity you had and what it could do for you, would that change how you’re thinking about the next few years at all?”
The frame before you dial
You’re not calling to sell them on moving. You’re calling to give them information they don’t have. The equity stat is your reason to call. The conversation reveals the motivation. Let the data do the work, then ask questions.
Next action:
- Pull your top 100 closed clients and sphere homeowners. Lead with the ATTOM stat, then ask if they want you to put together a full CMA to help determine how much equity they have. That’s your call list this week.
- Swap in your local equity data if you have it. A local stat always hits harder than a national one.
BAMx VIP members can generate custom scripts like this anytime using the AI Script Advisor. Learn more about BAMx here.
Why this matters right now
Equity-rich rates have dropped for three straight quarters. They’re at the lowest level since Q4 2021. The window where homeowners have this kind of position is narrowing.
Agents who run this play now, while the equity is still there and before rates potentially tighten further, are the ones who’ll unlock listings from the “I’m not moving” crowd.
Bottom line: The market has 43% of homeowners with at least 50% equity and 48% of homeowners saying they won’t move. Seen through the lens of an experienced real estate pro, that’s a market full of people who haven’t had the right conversation yet.
Be the agent who starts it.
