It has long been established that education and income affect people’s political efficacy. Surprisingly, the role of wealth - in particular, housing wealth - has thus far been ignored in this literature. We theorise that housing performs several functions that increase political efficacy and test our arguments using data from three large representative surveys administered in the UK. We first argue that housing wealth provides a form of ”self-insurance”, which on the one hand facilitates civic engagement, and on the other hand raises people’s stakes in the political process. In line with this argument, we find that homeowners, owners of more valuable houses, owners who have paid off their mortgage, and individuals who believe themselves to be higher in the housing wealth distribution all exhibit higher efficacy. Based on the literature on status expectations and the politics of resentment, we furthermore investigate whether intergenerational housing mobility affects political efficacy. However, we find no evidence that upward or downward intergenerational housing mobility affects efficacy beyond the first-order effect of homeownership. Finally, we study whether stronger local ties explain the higher efficacy of homeowners. Again, however, we find no evidence that length of tenancy in the area affects homeowners and renters differently. The results of this study show that housing - and by extension wealth more generally - constitutes a hitherto neglected but crucial determinant of political efficacy, chiefly by providing security which enables and incentivises engagement.