New Research from Coviance Reveals Home Equity Opportunity Varies Dramatically by State

WEST DES MOINES, Iowa - July 28, 2026

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Coviance recently released its inaugural State of Home Equity: A Market Strategy Report, a comprehensive analysis of home equity opportunity across all 50 states. The research finds that while home equity demand remains strong nationwide, the conditions that drive lending success vary dramatically by market.

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By evaluating every state across Borrower Quality, Market Potential, and Competitive Intensity, the report reveals that lenders face fundamentally different market conditions depending on where they operate-suggesting that localized, market-informed strategies may provide a stronger foundation for growth than uniform national approaches.

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"National averages tell only part of the story," said Omar Jordan, CEO & Founder of Coviance. "Two lenders can offer the same home equity product and experience completely different results simply because they're operating in fundamentally different markets."

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Key Findings

Among the report's most notable findings:

• Highest Borrower Quality: New Hampshire, Minnesota, North Dakota, Massachusetts, and Wisconsin ranked highest for borrower readiness, reflecting strong credit profiles, healthy household incomes, and favorable debt characteristics.
• Highest Market Potential: Hawaii, California, Colorado, Utah, and Washington demonstrated the greatest market potential, driven by high homeowner equity, substantial tappable equity, and strong home price appreciation.
• Greatest Competitive Intensity: California, Florida, Texas, New York, and New Jersey exhibited the highest competitive intensity, with significant home equity lending activity and increased competition from banks, credit unions, and non-bank lenders.
• No Single "Best" Market: No state ranked at the top across all three dimensions. Markets with exceptional homeowner equity often faced intense competition or lower borrower quality, while states with outstanding borrower profiles frequently presented different growth opportunities.

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A Framework for Market-Informed Lending

The report introduces Market-Informed Lending, a strategic approach that encourages community financial institutions to align lending programs with the realities of their local markets.

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Rather than assuming every market behaves the same, Market-Informed Lending encourages lenders to tailor lending strategies, borrower experiences, marketing investments, and operational priorities based on the unique characteristics of the markets they serve.

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The research is built on a proprietary methodology evaluating every state across three weighted market indicators:

• Borrower Quality (45%): Measures the financial strength and repayment environment of homeowners through credit quality, income, debt, delinquency rates, and debt-to-income ratios.
• Market Potential (40%): Measures the underlying home equity opportunity using homeowner equity, equity cushion, home price appreciation, and owner-occupied housing characteristics.
• Competitive Intensity (15%): Evaluates home equity marketing activity, lender presence, and non-bank competition to understand how aggressively institutions must compete within each market.

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Rather than ranking states from best to worst, the methodology provides lenders with a market intelligence framework that helps explain why different states present different opportunities.

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"Community financial institutions have always differentiated themselves through local relationships," Jordan said. "Market-Informed Lending extends that philosophy by helping lenders make more informed strategic decisions based on the realities of their local market. The opportunity isn't the same everywhere, and lending strategies shouldn't be either."

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The State of Home Equity: A Market Strategy Report includes an interactive national map, individual state profiles, regional comparisons, and strategic insights designed to help community banks and credit unions better understand where and how to grow their home equity portfolios.

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The full report is available at www.coviance.com/state-of-home-equity.

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About Coviance

Coviance is the lending experience platform purpose-built for home equity, giving community lenders the speed, simplicity, and efficiency to compete. Powered by our proprietary Collateral Decisioning Engine™, Coviance uses application data, property data, and loan purpose to intelligently automate decisioning and streamline communication. Lenders experience boosted productivity, increased loan volume and pull-through, and are able to deliver a modern experience borrowers love.

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Coviance was recognized as one of the best B2B providers by Inc. and was awarded Inc's PowerPartner 2023, HousingWire Tech100 in 2024 and earned a spot on the Inc. 5000 List of Fastest Growing Private Companies in the U.S. in 2022, 2023, and 2024.