VITAL SIGNS INDICATOR Home Prices (EC7)

FULL MEASURE NAME Home Prices

LAST UPDATED August 2019

DESCRIPTION Home prices refer to the cost of purchasing one’s own house or condominium. While a significant share of residents may choose to rent, home prices represent a primary driver of housing affordability in a given region, county or city.

DATA SOURCE Zillow Median Sale Price (1997-2018) http://www.zillow.com/research/data/

Bureau of Labor Statistics: Consumer Price Index All Urban Consumers Data Table (1997-2018; specific to each metro area) http://data.bls.gov

CONTACT INFORMATION vitalsigns.info@bayareametro.gov

METHODOLOGY NOTES (across all datasets for this indicator) Median housing price estimates for the region, counties, cities, and zip code come from analysis of individual home sales by Zillow. The median sale price is the price separating the higher half of the sales from the lower half. In other words, 50 percent of home sales are below or above the median value. Zillow defines all homes as single-family residential, condominium, and co-operative homes with a county record. Single-family residences are detached, which means the home is an individual structure with its own lot. Condominiums are units that you own in a multi-unit complex, such as an apartment building. Co-operative homes are slightly different from condominiums where the homeowners own shares in the corporation that owns the building, not the actual units themselves.

For metropolitan area comparison values, the Bay Area metro area’s median home sale price is the population-weighted average of the nine counties’ median home prices. Home sales prices are not reliably available for Houston, because Texas is a non-disclosure state. For more information on non-disclosure states, see: http://www.zillow.com/blog/chronicles-of-data-collection-ii-non-disclosure-states-3783/

Inflation-adjusted data are presented to illustrate how home prices have grown relative to overall price increases; that said, the use of the Consumer Price Index does create some challenges given the fact that housing represents a major chunk of consumer goods bundle used to calculate CPI. This reflects a methodological tradeoff between precision and accuracy and is a common concern when working with any commodity that is a major component of CPI itself.

Graph and download economic data for Housing Inventory: Median Listing Price in Los Angeles County, CA (MEDLISPRI6037) from Jul 2016 to Jul 2025 about Los Angeles County, CA; Los Angeles; CA; listing; median; price; and USA.

Graph and download economic data for Housing Inventory: Median Listing Price in San Diego County, CA (MEDLISPRI6073) from Jul 2016 to Jul 2025 about San Diego County, CA; San Diego; CA; listing; median; price; and USA.

House prices grew year-on-year in most states in the U.S. in the first quarter of 2025. Hawaii was the only exception, with a decline of **** percent. The annual appreciation for single-family housing in the U.S. was **** percent, while in Rhode Island—the state where homes appreciated the most—the increase was ******percent. How have home prices developed in recent years? House price growth in the U.S. has been going strong for years. In 2025, the median sales price of a single-family home exceeded ******* U.S. dollars, up from ******* U.S. dollars five years ago. One of the factors driving house prices was the cost of credit. The record-low federal funds effective rate allowed mortgage lenders to set mortgage interest rates as low as *** percent. With interest rates on the rise, home buying has also slowed, causing fluctuations in house prices. Why are house prices growing? Many markets in the U.S. are overheated because supply has not been able to keep up with demand. How many homes enter the housing market depends on the construction output, whereas the availability of existing homes for purchase depends on many other factors, such as the willingness of owners to sell. Furthermore, growing investor appetite in the housing sector means that prospective homebuyers have some extra competition to worry about. In certain metros, for example, the share of homes bought by investors exceeded ** percent in 2025.

In October 2024, the median sales price of an existing single-family home in Del Norte, California saw an increase of nearly ** percent, compared to the *** percent increase in the state. ** counties saw prices fall during this period. In Trinity, the median sales price of single-family homes decreased by approximately ** percent.

The median sales price of single-family houses sold in Lake, Orange, Osceola and Seminole counties, Florida increased substantially in recent years. In 2023, the median sales price of single-family homes reached ******* U.S. dollars, up from ******* U.S. dollars in the previous year. A similar trend could be observed in the state of Florida.

Median price paid for residential property in England and Wales, by property type and administrative geographies. Annual data.

This dataset uses data provided from Washington State’s Housing Market, a publication of the Washington Center for Real Estate Research (WCRER) at the University of Washington.

Median sales prices represent that price at which half the sales in a county (or the state) took place at higher prices, and half at lower prices. Since WCRER does not receive sales data on individual transactions (only aggregated statistics), the median is determined by the proportion of sales in a given range of prices required to reach the midway point in the distribution. While average prices are not reported, they tend to be 15-20 percent above the median.

Movements in sales prices should not be interpreted as appreciation rates. Prices are influenced by changes in cost and changes in the characteristics of homes actually sold. The table on prices by number of bedrooms provides a better measure of appreciation of types of homes than the overall median, but it is still subject to composition issues (such as square footage of home, quality of finishes and size of lot, among others).

There is a degree of seasonal variation in reported selling prices. Prices tend to hit a seasonal peak in summer, then decline through the winter before turning upward again, but home sales prices are not seasonally adjusted. Users are encouraged to limit price comparisons to the same time period in previous years.

Portugal, Canada, and the United States were the countries with the highest house price to income ratio in 2024. In all three countries, the index exceeded 130 index points, while the average for all OECD countries stood at 116.2 index points. The index measures the development of housing affordability and is calculated by dividing nominal house price by nominal disposable income per head, with 2015 set as a base year when the index amounted to 100. An index value of 120, for example, would mean that house price growth has outpaced income growth by 20 percent since 2015. How have house prices worldwide changed since the COVID-19 pandemic? House prices started to rise gradually after the global financial crisis (2007–2008), but this trend accelerated with the pandemic. The countries with advanced economies, which usually have mature housing markets, experienced stronger growth than countries with emerging economies. Real house price growth (accounting for inflation) peaked in 2022 and has since lost some of the gain. Although, many countries experienced a decline in house prices, the global house price index shows that property prices in 2023 were still substantially higher than before COVID-19. Renting vs. buying In the past, house prices have grown faster than rents. However, the home affordability has been declining notably, with a direct impact on rental prices. As people struggle to buy a property of their own, they often turn to rental accommodation. This has resulted in a growing demand for rental apartments and soaring rental prices.

Median price of residential property sales in England by property type and English county.

House prices decreased in all Swedish counties in 2023. The highest average purchase price for one- and two-residential property buildings in Sweden was in Stockholm, where the average price amounted to 6.7 million Swedish kroner in 2023, approximately twice the nation average house price. The lowest average purchase price that year was in Västernorrland, which was around 1.7 million Swedish kroner.

In the United States, Hawaii was the state with the most expensive housing, with the typical value of single-family homes in the 35th to 65th percentile range exceeding ******* U.S. dollars. Unsurprisingly, Hawaii also ranked top as the state with the highest cost of living. Meanwhile, a property was the least expensive in West Virginia, where it cost under ******* U.S. dollars to buy the typical single-family home. Single-family home prices increased across most states in the United States between December 2023 and December 2024, except in Louisiana, Florida, and the District of Colombia. According to the Federal Housing Association, house appreciation in 13 states exceeded **** percent in 2023.

Median Home Value by County reports the median value of all owner occupied housing units. Domain

The median sales price of single-family houses sold in Brevard County, Florida increased substantially in recent years. In 2023, the median sales price of single-family homes reached ******* U.S. dollars, up from ******* U.S. dollars in the previous year. A similar trend could be observed in the state of Florida.

In October 2024, the median sales price of an existing single-family home in San Mateo, California was *********** U.S. dollars. This was more than double the median sales price in the state of California. The most affordable county was Trinity, where an existing single family home sold for approximately ******* U.S. dollars.

Key information about House Prices Growth

• US house prices grew 5.2% YoY in Dec 2024, following an increase of 5.4% YoY in the previous quarter.
• YoY growth data is updated quarterly, available from Mar 1992 to Dec 2024, with an average growth rate of 5.4%.
• House price data reached an all-time high of 17.7% in Sep 2021 and a record low of -12.4% in Dec 2008.

The median sales price of single-family houses sold in Hernando, Hillsborough, Pasco and Pinellas counties, Florida increased substantially in recent years. In 2023, the median sales price of single-family homes reached ******* U.S. dollars, up from ******* U.S. dollars in the previous year. A similar trend could be observed in the state of Florida.

All-Transactions House Price Index for Orange County, CA was 383.50000 Index 2000=100 in January of 2024, according to the United States Federal Reserve. Historically, All-Transactions House Price Index for Orange County, CA reached a record high of 383.50000 in January of 2024 and a record low of 17.53000 in January of 1975. Trading Economics provides the current actual value, an historical data chart and related indicators for All-Transactions House Price Index for Orange County, CA - last updated from the United States Federal Reserve on August of 2025.

The S&P Case Shiller Los Angeles Home Price Index measures changes in the prices of existing single-family homes in Los Angeles. The index value was equal to 100 as of January 2000, so if the index value is equal to *** in a given month, for example, it means that the house prices have increased by ** percent since 2000. The value of the S&P Case Shiller Los Angeles Home Price Index amounted to approximately ****** in August 2024. That was significantly higher than the national average.

Graph and download economic data for Housing Inventory: Median Listing Price in Orange County, CA (MEDLISPRI6059) from Jul 2016 to Jul 2025 about Orange County, CA; Los Angeles; CA; listing; median; price; and USA.