Report: America’s Wealthiest 1% Could Buy Up 99% of the Nation’s Homes

A new data report from Redfin (NASDAQ: RDFN) has reached the conclusion that the wealthiest 1% of Americans have the financial capacity to buy 99% of the nation’s homes.

How does that work? According to Redfin, the combined value of nearly 100 million American homes reached $49.7 trillion at the end of 2024, while the combined net worth of nation’s wealthiest 1% reached a record level of $49.2 trillion. Redfin noted the growth trajectories of home values and the net worth of the richest 1% tracked similar paths over the past 20 years.

The wealthiest 1% encompassed roughly 1.3 million households – their exclusive demographic is defined by the Federal Reserve as households with a minimum net worth of $11.2 million. Real estate represents 12.3% ($6.1 trillion) of that net worth.

At the other end of the financial spectrum, the bottom 50% of households have a total net worth of $3.9 trillion, with real estate assets making up $1.8 trillion (46.4%) of that amount.

And while it is not likely for the richest of the rich to buy up nearly every home, Redfin Economics Research Lead Chen Zhao observed that the wealthiest 1% still own a disproportionate 13.4% share of US real estate.

“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.”