People who purchased homes in 2012 have earned a total of $203 billion in home equity, according to a new report from Redfin. Individually, the typical homeowner who bought the year prices reached their lowest point following the Great Recession has earned $141,000, or 261%, in home equity.

Adobe Stock/Andy Dean

The typical home that sold in 2012 has increased $110,000 in value, from a median sale price of $210,000 in 2012 to an estimated value of $320,000 in September 2019. The typical 2012 home buyer started off with $54,000 in home equity and has $195,000 today.

The report is based on a Redfin analysis of the home equity earned from roughly 1.4 million homes purchased across 138 markets in the U.S. in 2012.

"The opportunity to build wealth through home equity when prices hit their low point was available only to a fortunate subset of Americans who had enough cash for a down payment," said Redfin chief economist Daryl Fairweather. "And now many people who weren't able to buy into homeownership during that window of time find themselves on the other side of the housing market coin: Many areas are just plain unaffordable for people who don't have equity built up to trade in for a new home. And those who are waiting in the wings, hoping to buy a home when the next recession hits, probably won't be as lucky as buyers were in 2012. Even if home prices do come down slightly, the housing market won't be impacted nearly as much as it was during the Great Recession and home equity gains won't be nearly as big."

The massive 12-figure total equity growth is driven by large, expensive coastal markets—mostly in California—where home values have increased by at least two-thirds and the typical homeowner has earned more than $300,000 in equity since 2012. The metros with the biggest total home equity gains in dollars are Los Angeles ($15 billion), Seattle ($8 billion) and Oakland ($7.9 billion).

Top 10 metro areas with the most total equity growth in dollars, from 2012 to 2019
Metro area
Median
Home Equity
Growth in
Dollars

Median
Home Equity
Percent
Growth

Total Equity
Growth

Median Home
Value Dollar
Growth

Median Home
Value Percent
Growth

Los
Angeles,
CA
$318,000
292%
$15,000,000,000
$265,000
67%
Seattle, WA
$364,000
461%
$8,010,000,000
$313,000
88%
Oakland,
CA
$461,000
369%
$7,920,000,000
$406,000
92%
San Jose,
CA
$669,000
360%
$7,610,000,000
$596,000
98%
Denver, CO
$222,000
555%
$7,210,000,000
$180,000
72%
Phoenix, AZ
$133,000
238%
$6,820,000,000
$110,000
68%
San
Francisco,
CA
$741,000
329%
$6,410,000,000
$644,000
92%
Anaheim,
CA
$311,000
219%
$6,290,000,000
$252,000
53%
San Diego,
CA
$283,000
277%
$6,140,000,000
$232,000
60%
Washington,
D.C.
$148,000
296%
$5,760,000,000
$98,000
27%
National
$141,000
261%
$203,000,000,000
$110,000
52%

The list of places with the biggest percent increases in home equity includes many metros near large U.S. military bases, including Tacoma, Washington (1,453%) and Virginia Beach (1,333%), home to the largest concentration of military personnel outside of the Pentagon. That commonality is partly explained by the fact that a lot of home buyers in those areas would have been able to take advantage of a loan from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (known as a VA loan) or from the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), which often have small or no down-payment requirements, meaning their home equity started out particularly low in 2012.

"Just like many other places around the country, the Hampton Roads area, which includes Virginia Beach, was hit hard during the Great Recession. But because there's such a large military presence in Virginia Beach and its surrounding cities, our housing market will always be one of the most stable in the country," said local Redfin agent Jordan Hammond. "People in the military are able to obtain VA loans, and military buyers are also often able to obtain low interest rates. That turned out to be hugely beneficial for people in the area who bought homes in the wake of the recession."

Ellen Campion, a Redfin agent in Tacoma, said the housing market in her area is large enough that the military population is just one of many factors that have contributed to massive home-equity growth. "Buyers were paying too much in 2005 and 2006, and once the recession hit, a lot of those people unfortunately had their homes foreclosed on," Campion said. "So during and after the recession, folks were desperate and had to sell their homes for less than what they paid, and investors and savvy home buyers snapped them up, often with the help of FHA loans. Now we're in a situation where it's the best of all worlds for sellers who bought homes back around 2012. The Tacoma market is so hot right now that those sellers are often able to earn six figures by selling average homes."

Top 10 metro areas with the biggest median percent home-equity growth, from 2012 to 2019
Metro area
Median
Home
Equity
Growth

Median Home
Equity Percent
Growth

Total Equity
Growth

Median Home
Value Dollar
Growth

Median Home
Value Percent
Growth

Tacoma,
WA
$218,000
1453%
$953,000,000
$165,000
76%
Virginia
Beach, VA
$80,000
1333%
$758,000,000
$44,000
21%
Greeley, CO
$192,000
1067%
$459,000,000
$157,000
84%
Spartanburg,
SC
$79,000
790%
$131,000,000
$58,000
47%
Salem, OR
$164,000
781%
$319,000,000
$131,000
80%
Modesto,
CA
$200,000
769%
$484,000,000
$169,000
112%
Colorado
Springs, CO
$149,000
677%
$859,000,000
$117,000
57%
Stockton,
CA
$225,000
643%
$700,000,000
$189,000
107%
Bremerton,
WA
$204,000
638%
$382,000,000
$159,000
62%

Nine of the 10 metros with the biggest median home equity growth in dollars are in California, led by San Francisco ($741,000), San Jose ($669,000) and San Rafael ($604,000). Seattle ($364,000), is the only non-California metro on the list.

Compared with the metros with the highest percent equity growth, these areas all started in 2012 with high home prices, and local home buyers likely made much higher down payment--close to 20%. Since then, Coastal California and Seattle have seen enormous growth in home values, which equates to huge dollar gains in equity.

Top 10 metro areas with the biggest dollar home-equity growth, from 2012 to 2019
Metro
area

Median
Home
Equity
Growth

Median Home
Equity Percent
Growth

Total Equity
Growth

Median Home
Value Dollar
Growth

Median Home
Value Percent
Growth

San
Francisco,
CA
$741,000
329%
$6,410,000,000
$644,000
92%
San Jose,
CA
$669,000
360%
$7,610,000,000
$596,000
98%
San Rafael,
CA
$604,000
247%
$1,190,000,000
$495,000
71%
Oakland,
CA
$461,000
369%
$7,920,000,000
$406,000
92%
Seattle,
WA
$364,000
461%
$8,010,000,000
$313,000
88%
Santa Rosa,
CA
$350,000
318%
$1,200,000,000
$292,000
81%
Salinas,
CA
$322,000
322%
$656,000,000
$282,000
83%
Los
Angeles,
CA
$318,000
292%
$15,000,000,000
$265,000
67%
Anaheim,
CA
$311,000
219%
$6,290,000,000
$252,000
53%
Santa
Maria, CA
$297,000
230%
$593,000,000
$228,000
52%