Key Details:
- Zillow reports the U.S. housing market is now worth a record $55.1 trillion, up $20 trillion since 2020.
- Over the past year, housing wealth rose by $862 billion, with New York gaining $216 billion while Florida and California lost $109 billion and $106 billion.
- Nine metros now hold 31.9% of total housing wealth, led by New York at $4.6 trillion.
The U.S. housing market is now worth $55.1 trillion, according to Zillow, after adding $20 trillion in value since 2020.
That said, gains in the past year slowed to $862 billion. That’s a far cry from the record-breaking surges earlier in the decade.
Nine U.S. metros now control nearly one-third of the nation’s housing wealth, with New York leading at $4.6 trillion. But outside the Big Apple, the trillion-dollar club slipped a combined $18 billion. Florida lost $109 billion, and California dropped $106 billion.
Together, these swings are reshaping the $55.1 trillion market.
Zilllow’s report offers a clear picture of where value is holding strong, where it’s slipping, and how new construction continues to play a pivotal role.
Byron Lazine broke down the numbers on today’s Hot Sheet:
Read on for the details you’ll want to share.
State-Level Shifts: Winners and Losers
Seven states saw their housing markets lose value in the past year, led by three of the nation’s biggest:
- Florida: down $109 billion
- California: down $106 billion
- Texas: down $32 billion
After Texas comes D.C., with a $2 billion annual loss, followed by Arizona, Georgia, and Hawaii, all of which saw a roughly $1 billion market value decline between July 2024 and July 2025.
But it wasn’t all bad news. Forty-four of the 50 states in Zillow’s analysis saw annual gains in total market value, compared to just seven that saw a decline.
The 10 markets with the biggest year-over-year gains:
- New York: +$216 billion
- New Jersey: +$101 billion
- Illinois: +$89 billion
- Pennsylvania: +$73 billion
- Ohio: +$49 billion
- Michigan: +$48 billion
- Massachusetts: +$46 billion
- Virginia: +$46 billion
- Connecticut: +$43 billion
- Wisconsin: +$39 billion
Since the start of 2020, the top four states for cumulative housing wealth growth are:
- California: +$3.4 trillion
- Florida: +$1.6 trillion
- New York: +$1.5 trillion
- Texas: +$1.2 trillion
That long-term growth shows why national trends don’t always match the story of the past 12 months. Agents can use this as a reminder that local context matters most when explaining numbers to clients.
The Role of New Construction
New homes have been a major driver of market value gains. Since 2020, construction has added $2.5 trillion in value, representing 12.5% of the nation’s total housing market growth.
Some states leaned heavily on new construction to fuel gains:
- Utah: 23% of total growth
- Texas: 22%
- Idaho: 22%
- Florida: 20%
Builders in these markets created space for new households, while also helping rebalance supply. That’s a talking point agents can use with buyers discouraged by affordability concerns. New homes often represent the most realistic path into ownership.
As Zillow senior economist Orphe Divounguy explained:
“Even as buyers struggled with rising costs, U.S. housing wealth kept climbing. 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.”
Nine metro areas now have housing markets valued above $1 trillion, collectively holding 31.9% of all U.S. housing wealth.
Here’s the current ranking, with year-over-year gains or losses:
- New York: $4.6 trillion (+$260 billion)
- Los Angeles: $3.9 trillion (-$15 billion)
- San Francisco: $1.9 trillion (-$52 billion)
- Boston: $1.3 trillion (-$3 billion)
- Washington, D.C.: $1.3 trillion (+$24 billion)
- Miami: $1.2 trillion (-$25 billion)
- Chicago: $1.2 trillion (+$62 billion)
- Seattle: $1.1 trillion (+$13 billion)
- San Diego: $1 trillion (-$22 billion)
San Jose narrowly missed the cutoff with $995 billion, dropping $10 billion in the past year.
Excluding New York, these trillion-dollar metros combined lost $18 billion in value. That suggests smaller markets are starting to pull more weight, helped by affordability concerns and remote work opportunities.
Big picture, the Zillow data reinforces the message that the housing market isn’t a monolith. Even with a national record of $55.1 trillion, growth is uneven, and buyers and sellers alike need local expertise to navigate the shifts.
