Home equity lines of credit (HELOC) activity increased this year in Connecticut, according to ATTOM’s Q1 Loan Origination Report. Among metro areas with populations over 1 million, HELOC lending activity increased by 14.2 percent in the region in the first quarter of 2025.

Nationwide, HELOCs were down 4.5 percent from 272,535 in the fourth quarter of 2024 to 260,267 in the first quarter of 2025. Still, that is a 13.9 percent increase on a year-to-year basis.

“The red-hot housing market we’ve seen over the last few years meant that most home loans were going toward new purchases, but that appears to be changing,” ATTOM CEO Rob Barber said in a statement. “Rather than borrowing money to buy a new property, the data shows homeowners are increasingly looking to restructure their existing mortgages or borrow equity from their homes to cover other expenses. If the current trend continues, mortgage refinancing deals will soon make up the biggest share of the home loan market.”

New Orleans saw the greatest increase in HELOC activity (up 41.3 percent). The largest quarterly declines in HELOCs were in Houston, Texas (down 20.7 percent).

The number of residential properties in the United States refinancing fell by 12 percent quarter-over-quarter, to 580,170. Additionally, the total dollar value of loans fell 18 percent, from $582 billion in the fourth quarter of 2024 to $478 billion in the first quarter of 2025.