Hometap Says It’s Only ‘scratched The Surface’ Of The Home Equity Investment Market

Boston-based Hometap announced at the end of July that it has deployed more than $2 billion to 20,000-plus homeowners through its home equity investment (HEI) platform.

The milestone comes less than 18 months after Hometap achieved $1 billion in home equity investments — a reflection of rising demand for alternative financing solutions.

“This milestone reflects meaningful progress toward our mission to make homeownership less stressful and more accessible. We remain committed to building solutions that align with the financial realities homeowners face today,” Jeffrey Glass, CEO of Hometap, said in a statement.

“Crossing $2 billion in deployed capital speaks to both the trust we’ve earned from homeowners and the growing support of capital partners who share our vision. Together, we’re helping more people stay in their homes and access the resources they need to fund life’s opportunities and challenges.”

Flexible financing

A recent Hometap survey found that more than half of homeowners (54.5%) report feeling financially stressed, and 45% cite rising homeownership costs as their top concern. With inflation, higher interest rates and surging property expenses putting pressure on household budgets, many homeowners are turning to equity-based solutions that offer flexibility.

Hometap’s home equity investment product offers homeowners access to cash in exchange for a share of their home’s future value. There are no monthly payments over the life of the investment, which lasts up to 10 years. Homeowners repay Hometap when they sell their home, refinance or settle the investment, based on the home’s value at that time.

In an interview with HousingWire, Hometap chief financial officer Tom Egan said that he thinks the company has only “scratched the surface” of using home equity to its full potential.

Egan has a point. A recent analysis from LendingTree pointed out that American households had $34.5 trillion in home equity as of the first quarter of 2025 — a $600 billion increase from Q1 2024.

“It’s still a relatively new product for the consumer,” Egan explained. “So we don’t think we’ve really come close to sort of tapping out on overall demand. For us, we’ve been focused on customer education [and] on securing capital, and that is really what’s driven our growth strategy.”

Egan attributes Hometap’s rapid acceleration from $1 billion to $2 billion in originations to “micro” factors.

“Obviously, inflation is persistent, and so people are looking for ways to tap into
resources that allow them to extend their runway [and] pay for things in a way that doesn’t increase their monthly burn,” he said.

“Everything is more expensive. Home insurance is more expensive. Taxes are going up. The daily cost of living is going up. Maintenance is going up. So people are looking for ways to tap into the value of the home on the capital side of the equation.”

Secondary market factors

Egan said that another huge driver of business is the development of the HEI securitization market over the past two years.

“It’s done a couple of things: It’s given the asset buyers the confidence that there is a path to finance these assets on a go-forward basis, and it’s allowed them to recycle capital back into the space, he said. “So it’s kind of a two for one, which is it attracts more capital, and then the capital can recycle more quickly, so that just brings more capital into the space.

“Broadly speaking, I think it’s those two factors that have driven that sort of acceleration throughout the last 12 to 18 months.”

To ensure reliable capital in the space, Egan said that Hometap is choosy about its partners.

“We look for scale and durability. We would rather sign a two-year deal for $1 billion of capital commitments on slightly worse terms than a $100 million deal for a one-year capital commitment on better terms, he said.

And the company is only looking to scale up. “We want to build this business to $5 billion, $10 billion, $20 billion of deployment,” Egan said. “And to do that, we’re going to need long-term capital partners that are not trying to time the market.”

Consumers have an itch to scratch

Egan said that supply and demand factors, an elevated rate environment and lack of inventory are creating a “catch 22” for homebuyers, keeping them eager to find alternative financing options. Most homeowners, he said, aren’t aware of how to tap into home equity.

“There are a lot of people that are sitting in homes that are worth a lot more than what they were when they originally bought them — which, again, is positive — but they don’t have access to that capital,” he said. “And so this is what’s driving our conversations with customers about how to tap into that. It’s a consumer education project.”

One misconception, Egan said, is that Hometap is trying to do away with home equity lines of credit (HELOCs).

“A homeowner has basically two options: debt or equity. And so what we’re trying to do is create, hopefully, this range of potential options over time,” he said.

“We don’t view HELOCs as a bad product; we think in a lot of instances, that’s the right product for customers. Our goal is to expand that overall pie and say, ‘Look, there’s $35 trillion worth of home equity in the U.S. Here are three or five or 10 different ways for you to tap into that as a homeowner.'”