Los Angeles home prices have climbed 292% over 50 years, placing the metro third nationwide in long-run gains, according to Realtor.com’s analysis of FHFA data covering 1975–2024. The ranking underscores how the shift toward services and information industries reshaped demand for housing in major coastal markets.
San Jose led with a 396% rise, with a median listing price of $1.36 million as of September 2024. San Francisco followed at 300%, and Seattle ranked fourth at 280%. San Diego rose 271% and Riverside 179%, meaning five of the top 10 metros were in California.
On the East Coast and Mountain West, Boston increased 196%, while New York City and Denver each gained 161%. Researchers noted that land-use limits and tight supply amplified price pressures in these metros over time. By contrast, some Sun Belt and Rust Belt markets saw far smaller gains: Memphis and Cleveland rose just 2%, and Birmingham 9%.
Explaining the divergence, Realtor.com said the Bay Area and Seattle became hubs for universities, R&D, and IT growth beginning in the 1980s, fueling strong housing demand. Jake Krimmel, senior economist at Realtor.com, added that the economy’s move from manufacturing to services and information widened performance gaps among regions over the past 50 years.
A separate historical review extending 130 years reached similar conclusions. A team at Trinity College Dublin analyzed 1890s newspaper real-estate listings across 30 cities and found that San Diego and Los Angeles prices rose more than 1,000% since the 1890s, while Detroit, Atlanta, and St. Louis showed little change after adjusting for inflation. A researcher at the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, Allison Shertzer, noted that before the 1970s, real capital gains from housing were close to zero, but by the late 1990s housing had become central to household wealth.
BY HOONSIK WOO [woo.hoonsik@koreadaily.com]
