Home Value Growth Surpassed Most Salaries In 2021: Zillow

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

SEATTLE — Surges home values last year easily outpaced most people's job earnings in many metropolitan areas across the United States, including around Seattle, Tacoma and Bellevue, according to a new report.

Zillow released the findings of its latest study Friday, noting growth in house prices surpassed median income in more than two dozen major U.S. metros. Among them, 11 saw home values appreciate more than $100,000 in 2021.

Though the San Jose area had the highest median income, estimated at $93,000 last year, it also lead the group in skyrocketing housing prices, with the average home gaining nearly $230,000 in value. San Francisco was a close second, and Boise, Salt Lake City, Seattle and Phoenix all landed in the top 10, Zillow found.

In the Seattle metro, the average house gained more than $131,000 in value between December 2020 and December 2021, an amount nearly double the median income and roughly equal to the average annual salary for a computer research scientist, researchers said.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/realestate/home-value-growth-surpassed-most-salaries-in-2021-zillow/ar-AAVfqYn

[honest.abe]

1. This is getting ridiculous.

My wife and I are both "well paid" engineers but we cant afford to buy a decent house in most of these high priced cities. My wife is a design engineer specializing in rail (subway/light rail) so most of her job opportunities are only in these large expensive cities. There are a few cities with rail jobs like Atlanta and Dallas that she might be able to get a job but we would rather live in a more liberal state. I suspect were are going to end up in Atlanta. At least Georgia its becoming more blue.

[bhikkhu]

2. It's been ridiculous, really.

Two years ago I was all set to sell my house, where my daughters grew up. My youngest daughter, however, convinced me to let my oldest daughter and her boyfriend rent it from me as they were kind of stuck and couldn't afford the rent where they were. I let them rent it for about a third of what it would be, on the idea that they'd save up money and move at some point. They haven't saved anything, and actually broke up, but still live there because of the cheap rent.

All of which I'd be a little bent about, except that during the whole period they have lived there the market value of the house has appreciated enough to more that cover any rent I didn't charge them. It's up about 70k in two years. Things really don't make much sense.

Incidentally, if I sold it I could retire. But I can't retire anyway, because my work pays for my daughter's health insurance and there's no other affordable way for them. So that's two basic US problems that pretty much determine that I must remain a wage-slave, or just another jerk throwing his kids to the wolves.