Total housing wealth rose $8.2 trillion from 2010 through 2020, with 6.3 million more new homeowner households. A homeowner who purchased a typical single-family existing home 10 years ago at the median sales price of $162,600 is likely to have accumulated $229,400 in housing wealth.

NAR found that during those 10 years, nearly 980,000 middle-income households became homeowners. Within that time frame, total housing wealth for this income group surged by $2.1 trillion.

Homeownership is widely recognized as the leading source of net worth among families. Housing wealth itself is primarily achieved by price appreciation gains, and the nation has seen home prices accelerate at a record pace during the course of the last decade.