A recent “American Cities Where Home Values Have Changed the Most Over the Last 50 Years” from Realtor.com analyzes housing data from 1975 to 2024 (adjusted for inflation) to highlight the dramatic and unequal growth in home values across the 50 largest U.S. metropolitan areas.
The central takeaway is that the U.S. shift from a manufacturing to a service and information economy created a deeply divided housing market, primarily split between high-growth coastal cities and slower-growth Sun Belt/Rust Belt metros.
Key Findings and Metropolitan Winners
- Coastal Dominance: Cities on the West Coast, fueled by the rise of the technology and information economy, saw the most significant growth.
- San Jose, CA, the heart of Silicon Valley, led the nation with an inflation-adjusted home value surge of 396%.
- Other California metros, including San Francisco (300%) and Los Angeles (292%), and Seattle (280%) were also among the top gainers.
- East Coast Standouts: Traditional Northeastern hubs also saw substantial, though less extreme, appreciation.
- Boston ranked highly with a 196% growth rate, benefiting from the modernization and digitization of the financial services sector.
Growth in these areas was further magnified by factors like restrictive zoning and limited housing supply amidst booming job markets.
Lowest Growth Metros
- Rust Belt and Sun Belt Struggles: Cities that struggled to transition from manufacturing to high-tech and service industries experienced minimal home value appreciation.
- Memphis, TN, and Cleveland, OH, fared the worst among the 50 largest metros, seeing their home values tick up a mere 2% over the half-century period.
In essence, the analysis shows that the economic transformation of the U.S. disproportionately benefited coastal cities, turning them into massive wealth creators for homeowners while leaving many former industrial centers with stagnant property values.
