Talking Points

  • The total value of the U.S. housing stock grew to a record $29.6 trillion in 2016, an increase of nearly 6 percent and $1.6 trillion over the previous year, according to an analysis of the 35 largest metro areas by real estate website Zillow.
  • Los Angeles is the most valuable metro area, worth a cumulative $2.5 trillion, Zillow reported.
  • “The U.S. housing market has regained all the value lost during the housing crisis,” Zillow found. “The cumulative value of all homes in the U.S. declined by $6.4 trillion between 2006 and 2012.”
  • In the fourth quarter of 2016, some 29 percent of U.S. county housing markets were less affordable than their historic affordability averages, up from 24 percent of markets in the third quarter and 13 percent of markets a year ago, according to recent data published by the housing-research firm ATTOM Data Solutions.