Diverging Fortunes: Winners and Losers in the Pandemic Housing Market

The sharp rise in housing costs created massive wealth for property owners, while shutting many potential homebuyers out of the market.

2 minute read

May 4, 2022, 5:00 AM PDT

By Diana Ionescu @aworkoffiction


White clapboard house with For Sale sign in front yard

Juice Flair / Home for sale

The pandemic housing market created over $6 trillion in new wealth, according to an article by Emily Badger and Quoctrung Bui

It’s a remarkably positive story for Americans who own a home; it’s also inseparable from the housing affordability crisis for those who don’t.

“That dual reality follows what has been a mass wealth creation event with few precedents in American history,” the article continues. “During the last housing boom, the run-up in home values was similarly dizzying but limited to fewer parts of the country. And that equity largely vanished in the kind of bust that economists say is far less likely to happen this time.”

The authors clarify that “this wealth is not the same as having money parked in a bank account, of course. To use it, households must sell a home or tap its value through a tool like a home-equity loan, and that’s not risk-free. But evidence shows that homeowners wield home equity in real ways — to send their children to college, to start businesses or to invest further in housing, building even more wealth.”

Rising costs, however, are putting homeownership as a means of wealth creation out of reach for many more households. “It will amplify inequality, as gains go disproportionately to baby boomers (at the expense of millennials who will one day buy their homes), and to white households, who have a homeownership rate that is 30 percentage points higher than that of Black households.”

According to Benjamin Keys, a professor at the Wharton School of Business, the recent boom in home prices happened largely because building new housing is so difficult in the United States. This leads the authors to an alarming conclusion: because high home values benefit existing homeowners, who often resist new construction near them, “that could make the case for building more of it harder still.”

Monday, May 2, 2022 in The Denver Post

portrait of professional woman

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching. Mary G., Urban Planner

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching.

Mary G., Urban Planner

Cover CM Credits, Earn Certificates, Push Your Career Forward

Logo for Planetizen Federal Action Tracker with black and white image of U.S. Capitol with water ripple overlay.

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker

A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

July 16, 2025 - Diana Ionescu

Green vintage Chicago streetcar from the 1940s parked at the Illinois Railroad Museum in 1988.

Chicago’s Ghost Rails

Just beneath the surface of the modern city lie the remnants of its expansive early 20th-century streetcar system.

July 13, 2025 - WTTV

Blue and silver Amtrak train with vibrant green and yellow foliage in background.

Amtrak Cutting Jobs, Funding to High-Speed Rail

The agency plans to cut 10 percent of its workforce and has confirmed it will not fund new high-speed rail projects.

July 14, 2025 - Smart Cities Dive

Worker in yellow safety vest and hard hat looks up at servers in data center.

Ohio Forces Data Centers to Prepay for Power

Utilities are calling on states to hold data center operators responsible for new energy demands to prevent leaving consumers on the hook for their bills.

July 18 - Inside Climate News

Former MARTA CEO Collie Greenwood standing in front of MARTA HQ with blurred MARTA sign visible in background.

MARTA CEO Steps Down Amid Citizenship Concerns

MARTA’s board announced Thursday that its chief, who is from Canada, is resigning due to questions about his immigration status.

July 18 - WABE

Rendering of proposed protected bikeway in Santa Clara, California.

Silicon Valley ‘Bike Superhighway’ Awarded $14M State Grant

A Caltrans grant brings the 10-mile Central Bikeway project connecting Santa Clara and East San Jose closer to fruition.

July 17 - San José Spotlight