October 25, 2025 | Mark Luis Foster

If you took a map of the United States and wondered to yourself, a’ la Jeopardy style, where the highest increases in property values over the past half century in America occurred, you likely would answer, “What are the east and west coastal markets?” And you’d be right.  It’s not hard to guess for most people that the home valuations along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts have skyrocketed since 1974 (and oh my, ’74 was 50 years ago??). More interesting is the fact that a recent Realtor.com analysis shows deep differences in coastal valuations compared to rust belt and midwestern markets. And we’re talking deep.

While not specifically limited to HOAs, the study finds that in general, coastal markets have enjoyed triple digit increases in home valuations since the ’70s, while closer to our neck of the woods, we’ve seen only tiny blips in the single digits.

Jake Krimmel is a senior economist for Realtor.com, and he explains:

“In short, the U.S. moved from a manufacturing to a service and information economy and that evolution impacted different places through their labor and housing markets,” explains Krimmel. “Some areas were huge winners from that shift, while some got the short end of the stick.”

That explains why, for example, San Jose and San Franciscans saw a 300%+ increase in value in the tech-heavy Bay Area, while homeowners who were walking in Memphis saw a measly increase of two percentage points.  Look at the winners and losers chart below:

According to the report, from 1975 to 2024 the typical home in the Bay Area hub situated in the heart of Silicon Valley—the epicenter of the global technology revolution—saw its value surge a stunning 396% when adjusted for inflation.

Memphis, Cleveland and Birmingham were all listed as the low ones on the totem pole. There was no data available in the report about Minnesota, but other reports that we’ve seen point to fairly decent returns over the same period.

You can read the whole thing HERE.