The country's richest 1 percent has now amassed enough wealth to be able to buy almost every home in the United States

While many Americans are struggling to get on the property ladder as the U.S. navigates a housing affordability crisis, the country's richest 1 percent has now amassed enough wealth to be able to buy almost every home in the United States, a new Redfin study shows.

The top 1 percent in the U.S.—those with an income of $787,712 and above, according to SmartAsset—had a combined net worth of $49.2 trillion by the end of 2024. The combined value of almost 100 million U.S. homes during the same time was $49.7 trillion.

The ongoing housing affordability crisis has highlighted the growing inequality in the U.S., where the top 1 percent holds almost as much wealth as the bottom 90 percent, according to a 2023 study by experts at Princeton University.

Home prices have skyrocketed over the past five years, driven by pent-up demand and a historic lack of supply in the U.S. housing market—the result of years of underbuilding following the housing crash of 2008. The sudden rise of mortgage rates in 2022 following the Federal Reserve's aggressive rate hike campaign exacerbated the affordability crisis, squeezing many aspiring homebuyers out of the market entirely.

https://www.newsweek.com/one-percent-could-buy-almost-every-home-us-report-2043340