6 Years ago, I posted a graphic about American home prices: https://www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful/comments/dxgshs/the_booms_and_busts_of_american_home_prices_oc/

I have received many requests to refresh the data. Now that the Census data has been released for 2024, I am updating with newly provided information. Values are adjusted for 2024 inflation adjusted dollars. For some reason, I used 2010 inflation adjusted dollars in my last visualization.

Source: https://www.census.gov/construction/chars/current.html
Tools: Excel

Posted by WargFlow

20 comments

  1. **(Source)** [https://www.census.gov/](https://www.census.gov/)

    **(Tool)** Data was downloaded into Excel and visualized using Excel.

    The Average Price/Sq Ft is calculated using trend across time. This value hovers around $154/Per Square Foot.

  3. Is this graph saying that home prices were relatively stable, bouncing between $140 and $170/sq ft for 42 years between 1978 and 2020? I would have figured there would have been a steady increase, barring economic downturns.

  4. Oh man those comments in the old thread about the impending bust are… Illuminating

  5. Is this the cost to build or cost to buy? In LA, its just about normal to be $1000/sq ft at the moment

  6. IMO the only thing propping up house prices is job growth. Other than COVID, which caused prices to go up due to sub-3% interest rates, I believe job growth has been positive since around 2012.

  7. you recreate this chart, but dont adjust for inflation. Do it $ per sq ft / the median household income.

  8. As a Canadian in a HCOL city, even adjusted for our Monopoly currency, these are rookie numbers. Admittedly, I’m sure the same applies to major US cities.

  9. Why is $150 the baseline? This chart makes it look like we’re at double the 2008 rate instead of 35% higher.

  10. What am I missing in this chart? The data seems off. Before covid most homes were going for $100/sq foot. Maybe I’ve been in LCOL areas don’t know, but the low point of $138/sq ft in 2012 just seems extremely high.

  11. It might not crash hard – the thing is that foreign entities are buying up US property. So this isn’t just about building homes for Americans.

  12. My wife bought our home in November of 2019 for what now looks like the deal of the century compared to what my buddy and my brother paid for their houses as well as the interest rates they got only 3-4 years later.

  13. Turning 21 in 2013 has been an AMAZING ride. Started going up like a rocketship the second I became an adult lol

  14. Essentially the inverse/mirror image of the housing starts graph on FRED.

  15. So we are headed for an all-time bust right?……. right?

  18. I am ok if my house goes down in value. I bought in 2021 so my interest is low. We had enough of a down payment for a conventional loan. I think we can still use the FTHB loan if we need to. I’m not move for at least 30 years. By then we in the 3 term of Don Jr. Jr.

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