PS:
Even the US Census Bureau discounts home equity when calculating the
average net worth of Americans.
This chart is from 1995, but the principle still applies.
http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/wealt.../wlth95-9.html
Example: White families in the "quintile" earning $4973 per month had
an average net worth of $1.2mm, but with home equity excluded that
number fell to $414k.