US home prices have soared 47% so far this decade, outpacing all of the growth seen in the 1990s and 2010s

• US home prices have soared 47% so far this decade.
• The price surge has outpaced the gains seen in the 1990s and 2010s, and is nearly ahead of the 2000s.
• The rising value of homes has coincided with a millennial-fueled demand surge and years of low mortgage rates.

US home prices have soared 47.1% so far this decade, according to a ResiClub analysis of the Case-Shiller National Home Price Index.

The massive price gains seen in the first four years of the 2020s have eclipsed all of the growth seen in the 1990s and 2010s, according to the analysis. Housing prices in those two decades grew 30.1% and 44.7%, respectively.

On top of that, housing price growth in the 2020s is on the verge of eclipsing all of the growth seen in the 2000s, which was 47.3% after peaking at just over 80% before the 2007 housing market crash. 

This decade's strong home-price gains have been driven by an initial buyers' frenzy at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic. That led to a rapid 12-month price appreciation of about 20%.

Since then, price growth has decelerated considerably, though an ongoing surge in demand from millennial home buyers has steadily pushed home prices higher. Even with mortgage rates at around 7% — more than double their COVID-era lows — US home prices are still on the rise, signaling just how much demand there is and how little supply is available.

The median US home sale price hit $420,800 in the first quarter of the year, well above the $327,100 price at the start of the decade. The median home price sold in the US was $219,000 at the start of the 2010s, $165,300 at the start of the 2000s, and just $124,800 at the start of the 1990s, according to data from the St. Louis Fed.

Housing price growth in the first 50 months of this decade has notched a faster pace than the same timeframe in all of the last three decades, according to ResiClub co-founder Lance Lambert.