America’s housing market gained $20,000,000,000,000 in 5 years

By Samantha Delouya, CNN

Buying a home has become increasingly pricey in the past few years. Now, Zillow has put a staggering number to those higher costs: America’s housing market has climbed 57% since 2020, to a record $55 trillion.

That means that in just five years, the US housing market’s value has climbed $20 trillion, according to data from the real estate company released Monday.

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Zillow’s findings highlight a housing market that remains historically expensive, with values climbing even as elevated mortgage rates sideline would-be buyers and force more sellers to slash asking prices.

But the housing market’s gains haven’t been spread evenly in 2025. New York added $216 billion in value over the last year, more than any other state. New Jersey, Illinois and Pennsylvania were close behind.

“Demand continues to outpace supply in the Northeast,” Orphe Divounguy, a senior economist at Zillow, said. “When you look at housing inventory in New York, there are only half as many homes for sale as there were before the pandemic. So you have the value of the existing housing stock really rising a lot in that market.”

In contrast, pandemic-era boom states Florida, California and Texas lost billions in their housing markets in 2025. Once magnets for buyers seeking sunshine – and often looser Covid restrictions – demand has started to cool off in these states.

Real estate agents in Florida, California and Texas told CNN that inventory is building and that sellers have had to offer price cuts or concessions to entice buyers, who are increasingly reluctant to pay the same elevated prices they may have paid a few years ago.

“Real estate is cyclical, and we’re definitely in a down cycle,” Sharon Ross, a real estate agent in South Florida, recently told CNN. “Sellers are getting hit with lower offers, and I’m trying to manage their expectations.”

That’s partially due to an explosion in home insurance rates and property taxes, Ross said. Florida, along with California and Texas, is particularly vulnerable to worsening natural disasters fueled by climate change, and the cost to insure a home has risen precipitously as a result.

“I’ve had buyers cancel deals after they got the insurance quote,” Ross said.

A report last month from financial services company Intercontinental Exchange found that 85% of counties in Florida showed home price declines compared to a year ago. The report also found that prices declined in California, Texas, Colorado and Arizona by more than 3% from post-pandemic highs.

But while overall buyer demand has faded, new home construction has helped prop up housing market values in Sun Belt markets, Zillow found. In Texas, more than one-fifth of the market’s value gains since 2020 came from newly built homes, the highest share of any state besides Utah. Florida ranked fourth of all 50 states in its share of market gains from newly built homes.

“New construction has created pockets of affordability across the country,” Divounguy said. “Those are markets that create opportunities for people coming in and looking to get on the first rung of the housing ladder.”