Curinos welcomed home equity leaders from more than 50 financial institutions to its 2025 Home Equity Summit, in Fort Worth, December 8 and 9, which featured high-impact discussions on growth, operational efficiency and strategic differentiation in the home equity market. Participants engaged in expert-led sessions covering market outlook, borrower behavior and drivers of convenience, operational performance and the expanding role of data and AI in lead generation and origination. The Summit reinforced the outlook for a constructive 2026 environment and showcased Curinos’ roadmap for enabling lenders to more effectively identify, acquire and grow the right borrowers. From the presentations and discussions, here are seven timely themes that emerged. Watch Home Equity Summit Showreel.
1. The outlook for home equity growth appears favorable.
Economic conditions and borrower behavior continue to point to a positive home equity market heading into 2026. Curinos forecasts origination growth of two to five percent next year, driven by stable home prices, positive consumer demand and a flatter rate environment. Lenders are entering the upcoming year with renewed confidence in home equity lending as a core engine of growth.
2. Growth and performance management need to be data-driven.
Summit discussions emphasized the importance of leveraging origination and portfolio benchmarks to identify growth opportunities. Timely data enables lenders to track performance, validate the effectiveness of their strategies and make adjustments as circumstances demand. Increasingly, data transparency is viewed as foundational to growth that is scalable and measurable.
3. Pipeline velocity and utilization are keys to better portfolio performance.
Roundtable sessions focused on the necessity to accelerate “need-money borrowers” through the pipeline while at the same time improving initial draws and redraw activity from existing HELOC customers. Leaders shared tactical approaches to reduce friction at closing and deepen post-origination engagement.
4. Utilization levers and pricing structures are being reassessed.
Improved portfolio economics has consistently been linked to making sure that utilization is optimized, which has prompted debate around upfront draw requirements, origination fees and early paydown penalties. Many institutions are actively reassessing long-standing norms to improve line usage and profitability. Industry leaders at the Summit noted the tradeoffs of pulling these levers and their impact on borrower behavior.
5. The roles of securitization and secondary markets are expanding.
The rapidly growing home equity securitization market—about $25B in 2025, up 65% year-over-year—shows that home equity products don’t always need to remain on the balance sheet. In fact, securitization is reshaping balance sheet strategies for depository institutions, which traditionally have had relatively narrow credit boxes. Lenders gained insight into how partnerships and secondary market execution can offset liquidity, risk and future draw exposure. Increasingly, home equity is being viewed as both a portfolio and distribution product.
6. Operational efficiency improves with simplified processes and AI enablement.
A major theme centered on practical opportunities to streamline cycle times, reduce friction, enhance fulfillment efficiency and make the lending process simple and pleasant for borrowers. AI-enabled solutions were highlighted as tools to automate routine tasks and enhance decision quality without displacing staff. Leaders reinforced the connection between origination strategy and portfolio performance visibility, using data to challenge norms around line size and fixed-rate options.
7. Borrower education is key to profitable growth.
Discussions centered on the importance of education before the application process based on the borrower’s life stage and financial needs. This includes the ability to differentiate between HELOC and closed-end second mortgage (CES) products. Conversely, inadequate learning and development of staff has been tied to reduced borrower engagement, including decreased motivation to supply documentation, and ultimately higher pipeline fallout. One of the most popular sessions at the Summit was a collaborative exercise that emphasized leveraging internal and external data to align borrower needs with the right home equity solutions, for them and the institution.
