By contrast, the bottom 20% of U.S. earners hold just 5%of real
estate wealth. The top 1 %of earners in America hold 12.7 %of the country’s realty wealth, and those in the 80th to 99th earnings percentile hold 43.7%. Entirely, that suggests the top 20% of earners hold more than half (56.4%) of the real estate wealth in the U.S.
By comparison, Americans in the 60th to 80th earnings percentile hold 18.7%of real estate wealth, and those in the 40th to 60th percentile hold 12.4%. The 20th to 40th percentile holds 7.4 %, and the bottom 20 % of earners hold 5.1%. This is based on a Redfin analysis of Federal Reserve Board information as of the third quarter of 2025– the most current period for which information is offered.
These shares have actually been pretty steady over the previous years, but the highest-earning Americans do own a bigger share of real estate wealth than they carried out in decades previous. For example, top-1% earners now hold 12.7% of property wealth, up from 7.8% in the third quarter of 1989– the first quarter for which information is offered. By comparison, those in the 40th to 60th percentile hold 12.4%, not much of a modification from 14.5% in 1989.
“The most affluent Americans hold a substantial slice of the property pie as elevated home prices and high home mortgage rates make it difficult for lower earners to burglarize the real estate market,” stated Redfin Chief Economist Daryl Fairweather. “But housing wealth is actually more evenly dispersed than other sources of wealth in America; the leading 20% of earners hold over 70% of the country’s total wealth, compared to less than 60% of property wealth.”
The good news is real estate cost has actually begun to improve thanks to slowing home cost development and a dip in home loan rates, and Redfin economists expect additional enhancement this year as home cost growth is outpaced by income development. This will likely help some lower-income house hunters move off the sidelines. Home mortgage rates now sit at just above 6%, down from nearly 7% last spring however up from just listed below 6% at the end of February.
Here is the breakdown of how much property wealth various income brackets hold, in dollar terms:
- Leading 1% of earners: $6.1 trillion
- 80th-99th earnings percentile: $21 trillion
- 60th-80th income percentile: $9 trillion
- 40th-60th earnings percentile: $5.9 trillion
- 20th-40th income percentile: $3.5 trillion
- Bottom 20%: $2.5 trillion
< img src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/FgDw3/full.png" alt="The Leading 20 % Holds $ 27 Trillion of U.S. Realty Wealth (Line chart)"/ >