Equity builds from two forces at once, mortgage repayment and house price growth, and it's genuinely hard to picture how they combine over time without running the numbers. This calculator projects both forward year by year, and flags exactly when your loan-to-value would cross into a band that typically unlocks a better mortgage rate.
How this calculation works
Your mortgage balance is projected forward using a standard repayment schedule at your current rate and term, assuming no overpayments. Your property value is grown each year by your assumed annual house price growth rate, compounding as it goes. Equity is simply property value minus remaining mortgage balance in each year, and loan-to-value is the mortgage balance as a percentage of property value. Rows highlighted in the table mark a year in which your LTV crosses a common lender threshold, 90%, 75%, 60%, or 50%, since these are the bands most often tied to meaningfully better mortgage rates.
The projection above is only as reliable as the growth rate you enter, and property values can fall as easily as rise. See our Building Equity Over Time guide for the reasoning behind treating this as a genuine but not guaranteed tailwind, and our Negative Equity Explained guide for what happens when it runs the other way.
Frequently asked questions
What house price growth rate should I actually use?
There's no reliably "correct" figure, since future prices can't be predicted. A common approach is to run the projection twice, once with a conservative rate (1-2%) and once closer to the long-run UK average (3-4%), to see the genuine range of outcomes rather than anchoring on a single number.
Does this include the cost of remortgaging when I cross an LTV band?
No, this tool only projects the equity and LTV figures themselves. Use our Remortgage & ERC Break-Even Calculator once you know roughly when you'd cross a band, to check whether switching at that point is actually worth any early repayment charge involved.
Why doesn't this calculator include mortgage overpayments?
To keep the baseline projection simple and comparable. Overpaying would reduce your balance faster than shown here, building equity more quickly. See our Paying Off Your Mortgage Early guide for the maths on how overpayments specifically accelerate this.
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About the author
✓ Editorially reviewed — all Poqet guides are checked for factual accuracy before publication and updated when UK rates or legislation change. Editorial Policy
