LAST UPDATED: 2026/07/07 at 14:53 EDT
AUTHOR: Brennen Slaney
GITHUB: @realslimslaneyUS Housing
This page tracks the cost of US housing: what homes sell for, what a square foot and a one-bedroom rental cost, and the financing and supply conditions that move them. National series run as far back as the primary sources allow (median sale price to 1963, mortgage rates to 1971, building permits to 1960); the metro comparison covers 20 large metropolitan areas. Every price and rent series is paired with its year-over-year change. Sources are listed at the bottom; nothing here is adjusted beyond unit conversions.
NoteAbbreviations used on this page
- FRED: Federal Reserve Economic Data, the St. Louis Fed’s public data service
- HUD: US Department of Housing and Urban Development
- Census ACS: the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey
- ZHVI / ZORI: Zillow Home Value Index / Zillow Observed Rent Index
- CBSA: Core-Based Statistical Area, the Census definition of a metro area
- YoY: year over year
Home prices
The national picture
The median sale price is what actually changed hands (Census/HUD, quarterly); the Case-Shiller index is a repeat-sales measure of price movement that controls for the mix of homes sold. Read the level for magnitude and the year-over-year panel for momentum.
Source: FRED. Census/HUD median sales price (MSPUS, 1963+) and S&P Case-Shiller US National Home Price Index (CSUSHPINSA, 1987+).
The 2008–2012 bust and the 2021 spike are the two defining episodes. Source: FRED.
Metro comparison
Zillow’s Home Value Index (ZHVI) is the typical value of a home in each metro (35th–65th percentile), available monthly back to 2000, which puts every metro on one comparable axis.
Source: Zillow Home Value Index (ZHVI), all homes, smoothed & seasonally adjusted.
Source: Zillow ZHVI, year-over-year.
| Where each metro stands now | |||||
| Latest reported value per metric | |||||
| Metro | Typical value | ZHVI YoY % | $/sqft | Median sale | 1BR rent |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | $370,320 | 0.7 | $242 | $449,846 | $1,234 |
| New York | $727,625 | 4.1 | $503 | $814,250 | $1,613 |
| Los Angeles | $968,608 | 0.3 | $591 | $925,795 | $1,739 |
| Chicago | $353,998 | 4.4 | $243 | $397,500 | $1,203 |
| Dallas | $366,823 | −3.3 | $196 | $425,000 | $1,420 |
| Houston | $308,306 | −2.0 | $162 | $345,000 | $1,224 |
| Washington DC | $583,013 | −0.5 | $299 | $596,690 | $1,797 |
| Miami | $475,622 | −2.9 | $383 | $563,874 | $1,672 |
| Philadelphia | $390,463 | 2.5 | $228 | $315,500 | $1,272 |
| Atlanta | $382,938 | −2.1 | $190 | $405,000 | $1,545 |
| Phoenix | $448,352 | −1.7 | $255 | $461,458 | $1,488 |
| Boston | $741,868 | 1.6 | $423 | $750,754 | $1,705 |
| San Francisco | $1,149,215 | −0.8 | $1,071 | $1,692,634 | $2,130 |
| Seattle | $750,279 | −1.9 | $479 | $847,195 | $1,735 |
| Denver | $573,221 | −2.9 | $288 | $610,000 | $1,662 |
| Austin | $428,524 | −6.0 | $216 | $447,540 | $1,537 |
| Nashville | $455,958 | −0.9 | $243 | $476,228 | $1,419 |
| Cincinnati | $311,270 | 2.5 | $183 | $312,683 | $914 |
| Minneapolis | $393,774 | 2.1 | $201 | $390,772 | $1,242 |
| Las Vegas | $430,650 | −2.7 | $254 | $455,000 | $1,358 |
| Detroit | $269,080 | 2.8 | $149 | $213,694 | $975 |
| Sources: Zillow (typical value, YoY), Redfin ($/sqft, median sale), Census ACS (1BR rent). 1BR rent is the latest ACS 1-year estimate. | |||||
Price per square foot
Price per square foot strips out the effect of homes simply getting bigger or smaller, so it is the fairer cross-metro comparison. Redfin publishes it monthly from 2012.
Source: Redfin Data Center, median price per square foot, all residential.
Source: Redfin, year-over-year.
Rents
The one-bedroom figure is the median gross rent for 1-bedroom units from the Census American Community Survey (annual, government source). Zillow’s Observed Rent Index (ZORI, monthly, all unit sizes) is shown alongside as a higher-frequency read on where rents are heading.
Source: Census ACS 1-year, median gross rent, 1-bedroom units (table B25031).
Source: Census ACS B25031, year-over-year.
Source: Zillow Observed Rent Index (ZORI), all homes + multifamily, smoothed. Covers all unit sizes, not just one-bedrooms.
Financing conditions
Mortgage rates and the fed funds rate are the main covariates for any model of prices: when borrowing gets cheaper, buyers can bid more. The 30- and 15-year fixed rates come from Freddie Mac; the fed funds and 10-year Treasury are the policy and benchmark rates behind them.
Source: FRED. Freddie Mac 30y (1971+) & 15y (1991+) fixed mortgage averages, effective federal funds rate (1954+), 10-year Treasury (1962+).
Rates vs. home-price growth
Overlaying mortgage rates against home-price momentum shows the inverse relationship that motivates a regression: the 2021 price surge coincided with record-low rates, and the 2022+ rate spike with a sharp slowdown in growth.
Sources: FRED (Case-Shiller, Freddie Mac 30-year), 1988–present.
New supply — building permits
Permits are the leading indicator of new supply: authorized units precede construction by months. The split between single-family and 5-plus-unit (apartment) permits shows what kind of housing is being added.
Source: FRED. New private housing units authorized by building permits (PERMIT1, PERMIT5), 1960+, seasonally adjusted annual rate.
Total private housing permits (PERMIT), year-over-year. Permit swings lead price cycles.
Housing mix by metro
What kind of housing exists in each metro (detached houses vs. townhouses vs. apartments), from the Census ACS “units in structure” table. This is a snapshot of the standing stock, not a flow.
Source: Census ACS 1-year, units in structure (table B25024). “5+ units” is apartment buildings; “2–4 units” includes many townhouses and duplexes.
Relationships (regression setup)
The series on this page line up into a monthly national panel suited to a first regression of home-price growth on its drivers. As a starting point, the scatter below pairs the 30-year mortgage rate with year-over-year home-price growth (Case-Shiller), monthly since 1988.
Pearson correlation (monthly, 1988–present): -0.13. Negative, as expected (higher mortgage rates go with slower price growth) but far from deterministic, which is exactly why a multivariable model (adding permits, the fed funds rate, and income) is worth building.
Sources & methodology
| Metric | Source | Series | Coverage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median sale price (national) | FRED · Census/HUD | MSPUS |
1963Q1+ |
| Home-price index (national) | FRED · S&P Case-Shiller | CSUSHPINSA |
1987+ |
| 30y / 15y mortgage rate | FRED · Freddie Mac PMMS | MORTGAGE30US / MORTGAGE15US |
1971+ / 1991+ |
| Fed funds / 10y Treasury | FRED | FEDFUNDS / DGS10 |
1954+ / 1962+ |
| Building permits | FRED · Census BPS | PERMIT, PERMIT1, PERMIT5 |
1960+ |
| Typical home value (metro) | Zillow Research | ZHVI (all homes, SM SA) | 2000+ |
| Typical asking rent (metro) | Zillow Research | ZORI (all homes + MFR, SM) | 2015+ |
| Median sale price / $ per sqft (metro) | Redfin Data Center | market tracker | 2012+ |
| 1-bedroom rent (metro) | Census ACS 1-year | B25031_003E |
2015+ |
| Housing-type mix (metro) | Census ACS 1-year | B25024 |
latest year |
National series (FRED) are fetched live at build time from the official FRED API. The Zillow, Redfin, and Census series are refreshed offline by scripts/refresh_housing_data.py and committed under data/housing/. Year-over-year change matches each observation to the one exactly a year earlier. The 20 metros are mostly the largest by population, with a few picked for interest and regional coverage; all figures are metro (CBSA) level. Commentary lives on the blog. ```