More than half of America’s homes are now worth less than they were a year ago; the largest share since the nation was still recovering from the Great Recession.
New data from Zillow shows that 53 percent of U.S. homes have lost value over the past 12 months, the highest level since 2012 when the housing crash hit bottom. While the national market appears flat on average, that headline masks deep regional divides.
Home prices are slipping across much of the South and West, where inventory is rising and buyers are holding back.
Fear of a recession, mortgage rates stuck above 6 percent, and a standoff between buyers and sellers have frozen many markets in place.
Some of the steepest drops are in once-scorching pandemic boomtowns. In Denver, 91 percent of homes are below their peak value.
The figure is 89 percent in Austin and 88 percent in Sacramento. Florida markets are also tumbling, with more than 80 percent of homes in Jacksonville, Orlando, and Tampa valued lower than a year ago. Dallas and San Antonio are seeing declines above 85 percent.
Nationwide, the average drop from peak value is 9.7 percent; steeper than the mild dip in 2022, but far from the 27 percent crash after 2008. And despite widespread declines, few homeowners are actually in trouble.
The median home has gained 67 percent in value since it was last sold, with cities like Buffalo, San Jose, Providence, Columbus, and San Diego seeing property values double over time, thanks in part to longer homeowner tenure and fast-growing equity.
Only 4.1 percent of homes are now valued below their last sale price; fewer than before the pandemic. Even among newly listed homes, just 3.4 percent are being offered for less than the seller originally paid, roughly half the rate of 2019.
Loss-making listings are concentrated in markets that overheated during the pandemic, including San Francisco, Austin, and San Jose.
Meanwhile, in many metros across the Northeast, Midwest, and Great Lakes, fewer than 2 percent of sellers are taking a loss.
The U.S. housing market, in short, is slowing; but not collapsing. The pain is uneven, and most homeowners still sit on substantial equity even as prices cool across large parts of the country.
