By comparison, 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 real estate wealth, and those in the 80th to 99th income percentile hold 43.7%. All together, that means 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 income 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 data as of the third quarter of 2025—the most recent period for which data is available.
These shares have been pretty steady over the past decade, but the highest-earning Americans do own a larger share of real estate wealth than they did in decades past. For example, top-1% earners now hold 12.7% of real estate wealth, up from 7.8% in the third quarter of 1989—the first quarter for which data is available. By comparison, those in the 40th to 60th percentile hold 12.4%, not much of a change from 14.5% in 1989.
“The wealthiest Americans hold a sizable slice of the real estate pie as elevated home prices and high mortgage rates make it difficult for lower earners to break into the housing market,” said Redfin Chief Economist Daryl Fairweather. “But housing wealth is actually more evenly distributed than other sources of wealth in America; the top 20% of earners hold over 70% of the nation’s total wealth, compared with less than 60% of real estate wealth.”
The good news is housing affordability has started to improve thanks to slowing home price growth and a dip in mortgage rates, and Redfin economists expect further improvement this year as home price growth is outpaced by income growth. This will likely help some lower-income house hunters move off the sidelines. Mortgage rates now sit at just above 6%, down from nearly 7% last spring but up from just below 6% at the end of February.
Here is the breakdown of how much real estate wealth different income brackets hold, in dollar terms:
- Top 1% of earners: $6.1 trillion
- 80th-99th income percentile: $21 trillion
- 60th-80th income percentile: $9 trillion
- 40th-60th income percentile: $5.9 trillion
- 20th-40th income percentile: $3.5 trillion
- Bottom 20%: $2.5 trillion
