America’s Wealthiest 1% Could Buy 99% of America’s Homes

• The combined net worth of America’s wealthiest 1% has grown to a record $49.2 trillion, almost the same as the combined value of all the homes in the U.S.
• Real estate makes up 12.3% of the net worth of the top 1%, compared to 46.4% of the net worth of the bottom 50%.
• The top 1% owns a disproportionate 13.4% of real estate assets in the U.S.
• The combined net worth of the wealthiest 0.1% has grown by $4.4 trillion in the past two years—more than the combined net worth of the bottom 50%.

America’s richest 1% have amassed enough wealth to buy almost every home in the U.S. 

The combined value of nearly 100 million U.S. homes reached $49.7 trillion at the end of 2024, while the combined net worth of America’s wealthiest 1% has grown to a record $49.2 trillion.

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This is according to an analysis of the Redfin Estimate for more than 98 million U.S. residential properties, and Federal Reserve data for the total net worth held by the top 1% of Americans (from the third quarter of 2024—the most recent data available). 

Even though the two numbers are not directly related, the growth trajectories of home values and the net worth of the top 1% have tracked similar paths over the past 20 years.

Aggregate home values topped the net worth of the top 1% in the 2000s, before the housing crash and global financial crisis led to a reversal during most of the 2010s.

The one recent blip on the radar was immediately following the start of the pandemic in 2020, when stocks plunged—impacting the top tier, whose assets are generally more tied to the stock market than lower wealth brackets. Since then, however, the market has roared back, and so has their net worth. 

Redfin Economics Research Lead Chen Zhao said that even though their assets are more diversified, the wealthiest 1% still own a disproportionate 13.4% share of real estate in the U.S. She said the rise in home values over the past decade has helped drive the similarly rapid growth of their net worth.

“This group is able to watch their real estate assets appreciate without facing mortgage interest payments, as they mainly buy homes with cash,” Zhao said. “It is a striking example of the concentration of wealth in America that the top 1% could hypothetically afford to buy every home in the country—without going into debt—while millions of households struggle to buy or hold onto just one. Asset growth, including real estate, has consistently outpaced wage growth in recent decades, increasing the gap between the top and bottom wealth brackets.”

Real estate makes up 12% of the top 1%’s wealth

Roughly 1.3 million U.S. households make up the wealthiest 1%, defined by the Fed as having a minimum net worth of $11.2 million. 

Real estate represents 12.3% ($6.1 trillion) of that net worth, with most of the group’s wealth tied up in financial assets, which have increased at a similar (or even quicker) pace to real estate over the past two decades.

In comparison, the bottom 50% of U.S. households have a total net worth of $3.9 trillion, with real estate assets making up $1.8 trillion (46.4%) of that amount—showing how reliant lower wealth tiers are on real estate as an asset.

The level of home mortgage debt also highlights the difficulty facing the lowest wealth tier. The bottom 50% owns real estate valued at $4.9 trillion, but has a total mortgage debt of $3.1 trillion. In comparison, the top 1% hold real estate valued at $6.5 trillion, but only have $411.5 billion in mortgage debt.

Wealthiest 0.1% could buy every home in America’s 25 most-populous metros

Even among the wealthiest 1%, there is a more exclusive bracket—the top 0.1%—comprising 134,000 U.S. households with a minimum net worth of $46.3 million. 

The combined net worth of the top 0.1% is $22.1 trillion. That’s enough to purchase every home in the 25 most populous metros in America.

And that wealth is growing fast, rising by $4.4 trillion (24.9%) over the past two years. That’s more than the combined net worth of the bottom 50% or, put another way, enough to buy every home in the Chicago, Atlanta, Boston and Houston metro areas.

In comparison, the net worth of the bottom 50% grew nearly three times slower over the past two years, rising by 8.5% ($306.3 billion). 

Methodology

This analysis estimated current (December 2024) home values using the Redfin Estimate, MLS data and public records. The Redfin Estimate covers more than 98 million single-family homes, condos, townhouses and 2-4 unit multifamily properties, and is available in most but not all parts of the U.S. Historical values were imputed using public records and MLS data on price per square foot trends by zip code (or city, county or state when zip-code data was insufficient). Both existing homes and new-construction homes are included in this dataset, which dates back to the year 2000. Homes are not added to the dataset until they are first built or sold.

For the net worth of the wealthiest Americans, this analysis used data from the Federal Reserve for the third quarter of 2024, the most recent data available.

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