Texas on Top
New Zillow study crowns Texas homes the most valuable in the country
If it seems like home values in Texas are soaring, that's because, well, they really are. Real estate site Zillow confirmed in a new study that Texas added more housing value than any other state in 2019, thanks in large part to a slowdown across much of California.
The Lone Star State grew its total housing by a whopping $89 billion in 2019, the most in the country. California, by comparison, came in second at $77 billion, with Florida ($69 billion), Pennsylvania ($47 billion), and Washington ($45 billion) rounding out the top five.
The total value of the U.S. housing market right now is $33.6 trillion, nearly as much as the GDP of the U.S. ($20.5 trillion) and China ($13.6 trillion) combined. That's up 3.4 percent ($1.1 trillion) from a year ago and 51 percent ($11.3 trillion) from the start of the decade.
On a closer level, however, there are two Texas metros that made huge contributions to these numbers. Dallas-Fort Worth was one of five that added the most to the U.S. housing stock ($23 billion) — along with Washington, D.C. ($38 billion); Phoenix ($30 billion); Seattle ($30 billion); and Los Angeles ($29 billion) — while Austin's new-home surge mirrored that of Charlotte's for an impressive boost in value.
In fact, DFW is the top-valued housing market in Texas at $589 billion, or 1.8 percent of the national value. Its market grew $294 billion during the 2010s, but only $23 billion in 2019.
The story is similar throughout Texas, with Houston growing $20 billion now compared to $221 billion in the 2010s, for a total market share of only 1.4 percent. In total, Houston homes are currently worth a total of $481 billion.
In Austin, you'll find a total worth of $252 billion, but it doesn't sound quite as impressive when you narrow it down to $22 billion in 2019 compared to $141 billion in the 2010s.
San Antonio grew $70 billion a decade ago, but only $9 billion in 2019, making up 0.5 percent of the nation's total. Its total housing market worth is now $161 billion.
It's not a surprise where the most valuable homes in America are: the New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco markets are all worth more than $1 trillion. Despite being worth $3.2 trillion, New York actually lost value last year, while $2.5 trillion-Los Angeles added the most value over the full decade.
California lives up to its Golden State nickname, making up a whopping 21.2 percent of the nation's housing value with 12 percent of the population. To put that into context, the next most populous state, Texas, makes up 8.8 percent of the U.S. population, but only 5.9 percent of the country's housing value.
