I can offer yet another opinion... I wouldn't record unrealised gains as Equity transfers. A house purchased for $40k in 1976 would enjoy increasing values via period transfers from equity; and if the up-to-date valuation is $800k, and you sell today, you'll be recording a negligible capital gain. It is in my view that appreciating assets are best recorded as purchase price and left alone until the sale, then a large capital gain is recorded as income.
I would however unrealised losses as periodic expenses. A car purchased for $30k in 2020 and depreciates annually, and I may claim partially as a tax deduction. IANAA of course. C On Tue, 16 Sept 2025 at 09:02, Tom Route-36 <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi all, > > I wanted to reply to all of you here who jumped in with your advice and > comments. I think I understand the proper way to handle this now. And > it seems pretty simple and straightforward too thanks to all your > feedback. To keep things recorded properly I just need to create a new > Equity account (named Unrealized Appreciation or something similar). > And then for each valuation change entry in my Asset account (MyHome) I > put a corresponding entry in that new Equity account to balance things. > Really simple now that I look back on my question. Anyway, thanks again > to everybody. > > Tom > > > > On 9/15/2025 4:30 PM, David Warren wrote: > > Most accountants will tell you to credit equity for unrealized > appreciation > > in your assets. > > > > But if you are doing your own books, it's really your choice in terms of > > what types of reports you want to see and how you want to use. Sometimes > I > > credit income accounts for unrealized appreciation because it makes it > > easier for me to track how a certain asset account has grown or shrunk > year > > by year and what types of income (realized, unrealized, taxable or not > yet > > taxed) it has thrown off. When the income is eventually realized I credit > > realized income and debit unrealized income, which works for me. But it's > > really a matter of how you want things to work for you. > > > > On Mon, Sep 15, 2025, 5:03 PM Kalpesh Patel <[email protected]> > wrote: > > > >> I've done something similar. > >> > >> I've created a sub-account called "Appreciation" underneath the real > estate > >> asset holding account, and then I add the valuation transaction as > noted in > >> the appraisal report in "Appreciation" against "Retained Earnings" > >> underneath "Equity". > >> > >> -----Original Message----- > >> From: Murugan Mariappan <[email protected]> > >> Sent: Monday, September 15, 2025 8:49 AM > >> To: [email protected]; Harold Hallikainen < > [email protected]> > >> Subject: Re: [GNC] How to Properly Record Valuation Changes in Home > Value? > >> > >> Revlaution suplus / deficit should be treated as non P&L items, so best > way > >> to is to create a Revaluation Account under Equity and pass the entries > for > >> example > >> > >> > >> Dr Assets:Building (PPE) $100,000 > >> Cr Equity: Revaluation Account $100,000 > >> > >> If there is a loss then it will be in the reverse for example > >> > >> Cr Assets:Building (PPE) $50,000 > >> Dr Equity: Revaluation Account $50,000 > >> > >> > >> > >> Saludos Cordiales > >> > >> > >> Murugan > >> > >> ________________________________ > >> From: gnucash-user > >> <[email protected]> on > behalf of > >> Harold Hallikainen via gnucash-user <[email protected]> > >> Sent: 15 September 2025 00:03 > >> To: [email protected] <[email protected]> > >> Subject: Re: [GNC] How to Properly Record Valuation Changes in Home > Value? > >> > >> I'd be tempted to have two subaccounts in the MyHome asset. These would > be > >> Purchase Price and Unrealized Appreciation. Then have an income account > >> called Unrealized Income. > >> > >> Harold > >> > >> > >> On Sun, September 14, 2025 7:57 pm, Tom Route-36 wrote: > >>> Hi all, > >>> > >>> > >>> This is more of a double entry bookkeeping question rather than > >>> something specific to GnuCash; but I'd appreciate any input on the > >>> proper way to do this. I'm tracking the valuation changes of my > >>> personal home based on notices that I get every 2 years from the > >>> County Assessor. When I was using Quicken, I did this in a single > >>> account (named MyHome). The opening balance of MyHome was my original > >>> purchase price. And then every 2 years as I got updated valuation > >>> notices, I'd record a transaction back into that same MyHome account > >>> (since Quicken would let me do that) to adjust the MyHome account > >>> balance to make it match the current value listed on the County > >> Assessor's > >> notice. > >>> > >>> Now that I'm using GnuCash and having to do things properly with > >>> double entry accounting, I was wondering how to go back and fix > >>> things. I know I still want an Asset account for MyHome to track the > >>> valuation. But for DE accounting, what should I be using for that > >>> corresponding second account to balance things out as the valuation > >> changes? > >>> > >>> Tom > >>> _______________________________________________ > >>> gnucash-user mailing list [email protected] To update your > >>> subscription preferences or to unsubscribe: > >>> https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user > >>> ----- > >>> Please remember to CC this list on all your replies. > >>> You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All. > >>> > >>> > >> > >> > >> -- > >> Not sent from an iPhone. > >> _______________________________________________ > >> gnucash-user mailing list > >> [email protected] > >> To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe: > >> https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user > >> ----- > >> Please remember to CC this list on all your replies. > >> You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All. > >> > >> > >> _______________________________________________ > >> gnucash-user mailing list > >> [email protected] > >> To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe: > >> https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user > >> ----- > >> Please remember to CC this list on all your replies. > >> You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All. > >> > > _______________________________________________ > > gnucash-user mailing list > > [email protected] > > To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe: > > https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user > > ----- > > Please remember to CC this list on all your replies. > > You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All. > > _______________________________________________ > gnucash-user mailing list > [email protected] > To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe: > https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user > ----- > Please remember to CC this list on all your replies. > You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All. > _______________________________________________ gnucash-user mailing list [email protected] To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe: https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user ----- Please remember to CC this list on all your replies. 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