Homeowners struck gold during the pandemic—here’s the breakdown in every state

An unemployment rate that quickly soared to the highest level since the Great Depression all but assured a real estate tailspin. Forecast models produced in spring 2020 by CoreLogic and Zillow agreed, with both real estate firms predicting that home prices would fall. But they were dead wrong: Not only did the housing market avoid a slump, it took off on one of the hottest stretches in U.S. history. Strong home buyer demand saw inventory plunge to a 40-year low, while bidding wars reached an all-time high. Since the beginning of 2020, U.S. median home list prices on realtor.com are up 27%—adding $9.1 trillion to the total value of the U.S. housing market in 2021 alone.

That said, this historically competitive—and tight—housing market isn’t uniformly strong across the nation. Homeowners in some states have seen their home values notch a strong jump, while owners in other states have seen their values absolutely explode.