Redfin: U.S. Homeowners Lost $2.3 Trillion in Value Since June

Homeowners in the United States have lost $2.3 trillion in total value since its peak in June, according to an analysis from Redfin.

“The total value of U.S. homes was $45.3 trillion at the end of 2022, down 4.9% ($2.3 trillion) from a record high of $47.7 trillion in June,” an analysis of the Redfin Housing Value Index claimed. The research indicated that the drop in total valuation across the United States is the “largest” drop in total percentage terms from June to December since 2008.

Redfin’s analysis noted:

While the total value of U.S. homes was up 6.5% from a year earlier in December, that’s the smallest year-over-year increase during any month since August 2020. This is according to an analysis of Redfin Estimates on more than 99 million U.S. residential properties.

The housing market has been shedding value because homebuyer demand has waned, which has also caused home prices to fall from their peak. The median U.S. home sale price was $383,249 in January, down 11.5% from a peak of $433,133 in May, and up just 1.5% from January 2022.

Homebuyer demand slowed in large part because rising mortgage rates—a consequence of the Federal Reserve’s effort to curb inflation—made purchasing a home more expensive. The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate was 6.36% in December. While that’s down from the 20-year high of 7.08% in November, it’s roughly double the level from the start of 2022. Rates fell at the beginning of February, giving buyers some hope, but have since crept back up to December levels.

The analysis noted that the Bay Area housing market took the biggest hit, with the most significant being in San Francisco, California, which fell 6.7% year over year to $517.5 billion in December. Redfin noted that San Francisco was a “larger drop in percentage terms than any other major U.S. metropolitan area.”

The Redfin Housing Value Index incorporates the Redfin Estimate, public records, and MLS data to estimate and compare the current and historical value of over 99 million single-family homes, condos, townhouses, and multifamily properties.

Jacob Bliss is a reporter for Breitbart News. Write to him at jbliss@breitbart.com or follow him on Twitter @JacobMBliss.