Study: Home Ownership Equates to Saving Almost $30,000 Annually

Archived analyses from the early 2000s found that homeowners gained more wealth than renters. Does this still hold?

The short answer is yes. Recent analyses indicate that homeownership continues to be a significant avenue for wealth accumulation, even after 2020. Here are a two of the key observations from the study:

Wealth Accumulation Over Time: A study by the National Association of Realtors found that single-family homeowners accumulated an average of $225,000 in housing wealth over a 10-year period, highlighting the long-term financial benefits of homeownership. 

Substantial Equity Gains: Homeowners have experienced notable increases in home equity, with an average gain of approximately $147,000 over the past five years, equating to about $29,400 per year. 

Will the Good Times Last?

The million-dollar question, of course, is whether the good times will last, or whether housing is a bubble that’s about to burst. Of course, that question has been on the table for several years now, and home values keep rising, defying pessimistic forecasters.

Industry experts anticipate continued growth in the housing market over the next decade, though at a potentially moderated pace. Lawrence Yun, Chief Economist at the National Association of Realtors, forecasts a 9% increase in existing-home sales in 2025, followed by a 13.2% surge in 2026. 

Similarly, HousingWire reports that the Mortgage Bankers Association projects a 0.1% gain in residential investment in 2024, with growth rates between 1.1% and 3.3% in the subsequent three years. 

Changing Forces at Work

There are no shortage of doom and gloom predictions of housing’s imminent collapse, especially in certain regions such as south Florida, where a insurance crisis continues to get worse. But so far, the scale and scope of the problem hasn’t reached anything close to a fever pitch.

Production builders have more inventory, to be sure, and new home sales have slowed by about 17 percent, the lowest in the past two years. But they were riding high on the Pandemic wave for a couple of years, so those numbers may simply be an adjustment back to “normal” sales volume.

For those who can afford to buy a home, even with interest rates higher, the wealth building benefits are still there. Unless the world shifts on its axis in unpredictable ways, it’s unlikely that they’ll end up underwater and regretting the decision to buy anytime soon.

Even if a recession were to set in, if they can afford to sit tight for a few years, housing tends to rebound and come back even stronger when skies clear. 

Ownership Pays. Homeowners who bought a property 30 years ago have seen the biggest overall equity gains, but even short-term buys have increased wealth. Source: NAR

Publisher’s Note: This content is made possible by our Today’s Homeowner Campaign Sponsors: Whirlpool Corporation. Whirlpool Corporation takes sustainability seriously, in both their products and their operations. Learn more about building and buying homes that are more affordable and less resource intensive.