Home value (Zillow)
The typical home value in an area as Zillow measures it, and how much it has moved in the past year.
The typical value of a home in an area, in dollars, updated monthly.
Zillow builds this from a valuation of every home in the area rather than from the ones that happened to sell, which is what lets it report a value for a quiet market and a busy one on the same footing (Zillow Home Value Index Methodology, 2019 Revision).
This is the second home-price level on the site, and the two answer different questions. Median home value is what owners say their homes are worth, asked of every tract in the country. This is what a valuation model says they are worth, in the places Zillow covers. The census figure is an opinion with full coverage; this one is an estimate with partial coverage and a monthly clock.
Metrics in this family#
Zillow home value
The most recent monthly index value, in dollars.
Zillow home value change
The change in that value over 1, 3, 5, or 10 years, chosen in the tool, as a percentage.
A percentage rather than a dollar amount, because a $40,000 move means something different in a $150,000 market than in a $900,000 one. The 1-year window shows recent momentum; the longer windows are available in fewer places, because Zillow's history is thinner further back — see coverage.
Considerations#
The number is a model output. Every figure rests on Zillow's valuation of individual homes, so wherever those valuations are weak — unusual housing, thin markets, areas whose sales record is sparse — the index inherits that weakness without signalling it.
Coverage is incomplete, and the gaps are not random. Around 7,000 ZIP codes have no published value, and they are left blank here rather than filled in from the surrounding county. Substituting a county average would put a confident number on precisely the places least likely to resemble it. Where a value is blank, the map paints nothing.
Tract figures are assembled, not published. Zillow reports nothing at tract level, so a tract's value is a blend of the ZIP codes overlapping it, weighted by shared housing units. A tract covered by one ZIP code takes that ZIP code's value; a tract split across several takes a weighted mix, which is smoother than the tract itself really is. Tracts split between a cheap ZIP code and an expensive one are the least reliable.
The value is nominal. It is not adjusted for inflation, so a one-year change includes general price inflation as well as housing-specific movement.
The index is smoothed and seasonally adjusted. Short-run movements are damped by construction, and turning points show up later than they happened.
Recent history is deeper than old history. A one-year change is available in many more places than a long-run comparison would be — see coverage.
References#
- 1Zillow Home Value Index Methodology, 2019 Revisionhttps://www.zillow.com/research/zhvi-methodology-2019-deep-26226/