The value of the entire U.S. housing stock increased by 6.5 percent — or $2 trillion — in 2017, according to a report from Zillow. All homes in the country are now worth a cumulative $31.8 trillion. The gain in home values was the fastest since 2013, when real estate was in the early stages of its recovery from the recession.
Los Angeles is the most valuable U.S. housing market at $2.7 trillion, according to Zillow’s estimate of owner-occupied and rental homes, with New York second, at $2.6 trillion, the size of the U.K. and French economies. The 10 most valuable metropolitan areas are worth $11.3 trillion combined, or 36 percent of the total value of the U.S. housing stock.
Among the 35 largest U.S. markets, the greatest total home value growth happened in Columbus, Ohio, which gained 15.1 percent to $152.3 billion.
The average sales price of a U.S. home as of November 2017 was $290K, up from $288K in October and up from $277K one year ago. This is a change of 0.62% from last month and 4.65% from one year ago.
Meanwhile, renters spent a record $485.6 billion in 2017, an increase of $4.9 billion from 2016. Renters in New York and Los Angeles spent the most on rent over the past year.