Today’s housing market is worth a record $55.1 trillion, according to new data from Zillow (NASDAQ: Z, ZG). This marked an $862 billion surge in the past year and $20 trillion increase since 2020.
Seven states saw their housing markets lose value over the past year, with the biggest drops in Florida (-$109 billion), California (-$106 billion) and Texas (-$32 billion). About one-quarter of the nationwide gains came from New York, which alone added $216 billion.
At a metro level, there are nine metro areas with housing markets worth more than $1 trillion – these markets collectively hold nearly one-third of the nation’s housing wealth (31.9%). They are New York ($4.6 trillion), Los Angeles ($3.9 trillion), San Francisco ($1.9 trillion), Boston ($1.3 trillion), Washington, D.C. ($1.3 trillion), Miami ($1.2 trillion), Chicago ($1.2 trillion), Seattle ($1.1 trillion) and San Diego ($1 trillion).
Zillow added that new construction has added $2.5 trillion in housing value since early 2020 — about 12.5% of the nation’s total gain. Utah (23%), Texas (22%), Idaho (22%), and Florida (20%) saw the biggest share of housing market gains come from new construction over this period.
“Even as buyers struggled with rising costs, US housing wealth kept climbing,” said Orphe Divounguy, senior economist at Zillow. “New construction opened the door for many first-time homeowners, creating trillions in wealth that didn’t exist five years ago. Home value gains are a windfall for longtime homeowners, but they also highlight how housing deficits that sent prices soaring left behind many aspiring first-time buyers. The bottom line is that we need more homes to solve our chronic affordability crisis.”
USA founders insisted on only taxing PROPERTY, to prevent MONOPOLY, to make sure housing was never held hostage by parasitic speculators, as their fathers saw in Britain. We need the SINGLE TAX….now.
The founders of USA wanted ONLY a wealth tax on property, to prevent monopoly. Congress stabbed their backs in 1913 with our income tax on LABOR. And we’ve seen a Great Depression and Great Recession and the worst disparity of wealth.
All excess property outside of a home must be taxed at the highest rates possible to cover ALL government revenue and expenditures.
What we need is to pay better wages to lower income workers like nursing home workers, grocery store workers etc. They are also paying huge rents that’s why they cannot afford the high housing prices.
Stop building for wealthy people and take care of the rest of the population.
When homes are built for higher income buyers, it sets off a chain reaction. They move into the new properties, the next tier of homeowners moves up into their homes, and so on down the line. The same thing happens in the rental market, when new units are added at the top it frees up housing further down. Over time, older or unlivable houses get replaced and the whole market keeps moving. That flow is what eventually makes more affordable housing available.
Trickle down has never worked. We need to prevent the rich from hoarding the nation’s homes. Property, nor healthcare, nor water, nor food, should ever be allowed to be an investment outside of a single home.
Cut all taxes on WORK and raise all taxes on property. Work creates wealth. Owning just makes the pigs of society get rich at everyone else’s expense.