Chicago’s housing stock is the No. 6 most valuable in the entire country, according to a year-end analysis from Zillow.
Altogether in 2016, Chicago’s residential properties are worth just over $772 billion, topping other major markets like Dallas, Phoenix and Seattle. Last year’s value represents a $31.7 billion gain over the city’s 2015 housing stock, the 10th highest increase in the nation.
The strengthening of property values in Chicago reflects a larger trend of recovery that spanned the country in 2016. Nationwide, housing stock value improved by $1.6 trillion from 2015 to $29.6 trillion.
Recovery hurts affordability
“The U.S. housing stock is worth much more than ever, which is a sign of the ongoing housing recovery,” said Zillow Chief Economist Svenja Gudell.
The caveat, as Gudell pointed out, is that improvements to value also signal diminished affordability, something already proving a problem for a huge block of Americans.
“The total value of the housing stock grew nearly 6 percent this year, a pace that will likely mean some American families are priced out of homeownership,” he said.
As we’ve recently reported, even an increase of $1,000 to Chicago’s median home price would effectively price out more than 5,100 buyers.
See our below table to compare the value of Chicago’s housing stock to other major markets’.
City | Total Home Value, Year-End 2016 | Total Home Value Year-End 2015 | Y-o-Y Change |
---|---|---|---|
Los Angeles | $2.5 trillion | $2.4 trillion | $100 billion |
New York | $2.4 trillion | $2.3 trillion | $100 billion |
San Francisco | $1.3 trillion | $1.2 trillion | $100 billion |
Washington, D.C. | $975.1 billion | $939 billion | $36.1 billion |
Miami | $818.8 billion | $773 billion | $45.8 billion |
Chicago | $772.7 billion | $741 billion | $31.7 billion |
Boston | $672.7 billion | $634 billion | $38.7 billion |
San Jose | $636.2 billion | $614 billion | $22.2 billion |
San Diego | $596 billion | $574 billion | $22 billion |
Philadelphia | $589.2 billion | $567 billion | $22.2 billion |
Seattle | $571.4 billion | $506 billion | $65.4 billion |
Dallas | $456.9 billion | $411 billion | $45.9 billion |
Phoenix | $441.5 billion | $421 billion | $20.5 billion |
Riverside, Calif. | $440 billion | $417 billion | $23 billion |
Atlanta | $413.6 billion | $383 billion | $30.6 billion |
Denver | $377.5 billion | $347 billion | $30.5 billion |
Houston | $373.2 billion | $381 billion | -$7.8 billion |
Minneapolis | $332.5 billion | $307 billion | $25.5 billion |
Detroit | $288.7 billion | $271 billion | $17.7 billion |
Baltimore | $287.9 billion | $274 billion | $13.9 billion |
Portland | $286.6 billion | $252 billion | $34.6 billion |
Sacramento | $269.4 billion | $253 billion | $16.4 billion |
Tampa | $254.7 billion | $232 billion | $22.7 billion |
St. Louis | $192 billion | $181 billion | $11 billion |
Orlando | $187.5 billion | $173 billion | $14.5 billion |
Charoltte, N.C. | $186.1 billion | $176 billion | $10.1 billion |
Las Vegas | $175.9 billion | $168 billion | $7.9 billion |
Austin | $161.4 billion | $155 billion | $6.4 billion |
Pittsburgh | $148 billion | $141 billion | $7 billion |
Columbus | $132.9 billion | $125 billion | $7.9 billion |
Kansas City | $129.7 billion | $126 billion | $3.7 billion |
Cincinati | $128.6 billion | $124 billion | $4.6 billion |
Cleveland | $116.8 billion | $113 billion | $3.8 billion |
San Antonio | $116.4 billion | $113 billion | $3.4 billion |
Indianapolis | $111.7 billion | $110 billion | $1.7 billion |