Wall Street Takes Its Cut of $34 Trillion in US Homeowner Wealth

The stucco exterior wasn’t much to look at and the kitchen was dated, the front garden just a tiny patch. But the townhome in Jacksonville, Florida, was the best that Marian Hoag could afford.

She bought the place for $65,000, and watched its value triple over the next decade after a migration-fueled boom in Florida real estate prices. Now, she sees those gains as more of a liability than a windfall.

Hoag owes tens of thousands of dollars after signing a home equity investment contract, a form of financing that trades a share of future appreciation for cash up front. It’s ...