Did you buy a house around 2010? If so you're house wealthy

 

The sun has been shining on home ownership over the last decade

A recent report by the national Association of Realtors researches shows homeownership brought tremendous wealth gains over the past decade:

• A homeowner who purchased a typical single-family existing home 10 years ago at the median sales price of $162,600 is likely to have accumulated $229,400 in housing wealth
• Total housing wealth rose $8.2 trillion from 2010 through 2020, with 6.3 million more new homeowner households.
• From 2010 through 2020, the metro areas with the greatest increase in middle-income homeowners were Phoenix, Austin, Nashville, Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, Orlando, Portland (Oregon), Seattle and Tampa.
• The aggregate value of housing wealth rose across all income groups, but those in the high-income group gained 71% of the increase in housing wealth.

If you bought just about anything in Chicago in over 2010-2012 you are doing really well on re-sale.  This is not always the case.  Often too many people look at their home as an investment rather than where they really need or want to live.  However it is undeniable you have a chance to gain wealth over time by owning your home. You almost always get something back when selling real estate after holding for a little while... never the case when renting.