Homeowners in almost every corner of the United States are making more off the accruing value of their homes every hour than minimum wage workers. In some cases, homeowners are even making a lot more than decent middle class wages.
A post on the Zillow Research digs into the amount of money homeowners are making in equity in large cities around the United States—finding that owning a home pays better on an hourly basis than many jobs in today's real estate market.
For instance, "[t]he typical U.S. homeowner is gaining $7.09 of equity in their home every working hour, $0.16 less than federal minimum wage." And, "[h]ome values in San Jose, Calif., San Francisco and Seattle have been appreciating more than 3.5 times faster per working hour than the cities’ minimum wage workers earn." In San Jose's case, more than 3.5 times faster is quite a bit more: "In San Jose, the typical homeowner is gaining $99.81 of equity in their home every hour they’re at the office. The city’s hourly minimum wage is $13.50."
In all, "owners of the median-valued home in 24 of the nation’s 50 largest cities earned more in equity per hour over the past year than their local minimum wage."
The analysis provides a new angle on equity, just days after a report by financial analytics company Black Knight found that homeowner equity reached a new record in 2017.
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City of Albany
UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies
Mpact (formerly Rail~Volution)
Chaddick Institute at DePaul University
City of Piedmont, CA
Great Falls Development Authority, Inc.
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research