Based on the 2019 Survey of Consumer Finance data, homeownership accounts for 90% of total wealth among all families. In the bottom 20% income percentile, a home accounts for 99% of total assets, compared to 42% for families in the top 10% income bracket. The National Association of Realtors says the median sales price of an existing home hit $311,800 in September this year, a 33% advance from peak prices in July 2006. Someone who purchased a home 30 years ago would have gained around $283,000 as of the second quarter this year. For a home purchased 10 years ago, the gained wealth is $144,490.
Nine of the top 10 metro areas with the largest housing wealth gains over a 10-year period were on the West Coast: San Jose-Sunnyvale-Sta. Clara; San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward; Anaheim-Sta. Ana-Irvine; San Diego-Carlsbad; Los-Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale; Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue; Boulder, Colorado; Urban Honolulu, Hawaii; and Denver-Aurora Lakewood, Colorado. Naples-Immokalee-Marco Island rounds out the tenth.
However, in terms of the home price appreciation and the rate of return (price appreciation less mortgage rate), the top metro areas are Cape Coral Fort-Myers, Florida; Grand Rapids, Michigan; Boise-City-Nampa, Idaho; Reno, Nevada; Port-St. Lucie, Florida; Las Vegas-Henderson-Paradise, Nevada; San Jose-Sunnyvale-Sta. Clara; Riverside-San Bernardino, California; Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, Arizona; and Lakeland-Winter-Haven, Florida.
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