Home appreciation calculator

What your home could be worth in the years ahead, how much of it you would own, and what that is in today's dollars, using real U.S. price history as a guide.

By Raimundo Coelho · Updated

Your home

Move
$
Growth rate to assume
%
%

FHFA U.S. average, January 1991 to August 2026. Your area can differ a lot.

Your mortgage (enter 0 if paid off)

$
%
yr

Principal and interest of $1,966.66 a month.

%

Agent commissions, title, transfer taxes and fees. Itemize them with the home sale proceeds calculator.

Value in 10 years

$609k

+$209,401

Your equity then

$367k

vs. $100,000 today

In today's dollars

$471k

1.7% a year real

Loan balance

$242k

then

Cash if you sold

$330k

before taxes

Value vs. what you owe

Value Today's $ Equity
Home value, value in today's dollars and loan balance by year

Equity summary

In year 10
    Walk-away cash $330,374

    A projection, not an appraisal or a forecast. Prices can fall.

    Year by year

    Value and equity in future dollars. On a wider screen the table also shows each year in today's dollars.

    YearValueLoanEquity

    How home appreciation is calculated

    Appreciation compounds like interest: each year's growth applies to the higher value from the year before. The calculator uses the standard future value formula:

    Future value = Value today × (1 + r)n

    Here r is the yearly growth rate and n the number of years. This is the opening example worked by hand: a $400,000 home, 4.3% a year for 10 years, 2.6% inflation, and a $300,000 mortgage at 6.5% with 27 years left.

    1. 1

      Grow the value

      1.04310 = 1.5235, so $400,000 × 1.5235 = $609,401. The gain is $209,401, or 52%.

    2. 2

      Take out inflation

      Prices in general rise too. 1.02610 = 1.2926, and $609,401 ÷ 1.2926 = $471,443 in today's money. The real gain is $71,443, about 1.7% a year.

    3. 3

      Pay down the loan

      $300,000 at 6.5% over 27 years is $1,966.66 a month in principal and interest. After 120 payments the balance is $242,463.

    4. 4

      Find the equity

      $609,401 − $242,463 = $366,938, up from $100,000 today. About $209,000 of the increase comes from price growth and $57,500 from paying down the loan.

    5. 5

      Subtract the cost of selling

      Selling costs of 6% take $36,564, leaving about $330,374 before any income tax on the gain.

    To work backward and find what a past purchase earned, divide today's value by the price you paid, raise the result to the power of 1 ÷ years, and subtract 1. A home bought for $250,000 that is worth $400,000 eight years later grew at 1.61/8 − 1 = 6.1% a year.

    What U.S. home prices have actually done

    The Federal Housing Finance Agency's purchase-only House Price Index tracks repeat sales of the same houses with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgages, so it measures price change rather than a shift toward bigger or smaller homes. Its national average growth over different stretches, through August 2026:

    PeriodHome prices, per yearInflation (CPI), per year
    Last 12 months2.4%3.7% (Sept. to Sept.)
    Last 5 years5.2%4.2%
    Last 10 years6.9%3.3%
    Last 20 years3.5%2.5%
    Last 30 years4.6%2.6%
    Since January 19914.3%2.6%

    The averages hide very different chapters. Prices rose 60% from January 2000 to January 2006. They then fell 21.3% from the April 2007 peak to the May 2011 low, and did not get back to the 2007 level until May 2016, nine years later. After inflation, the recovery took longer still. From January 2020 to June 2022 prices jumped 39%, and since then they have risen about 3.4% a year.

    The calculator starts at 4.3%, the average since the index began, because it spans both booms and the bust. That is not a forecast. The "Cautious" button uses 3%, the middle assumption on our rent vs. buy calculator; the last 10 years' 6.9% came largely from the 2020–2022 surge and is a poor guide to the next decade.

    Appreciation is not guaranteed

    A national average is not your house. FHFA also publishes indexes by state and metro area, and they spread far apart: in the 2007–2011 bust, some metros lost far more than the national 21%, while others barely dipped. Prices in one neighborhood can move with a new employer, a plant closing, insurance costs, flood maps, new construction nearby or mortgage rates.

    Try a negative rate to see the downside. At −3% a year for 5 years, a $400,000 home is worth about $343,500. With a mortgage, a fall hits your equity harder than the price, because the loan does not shrink with the market. That is why a short stay, or buying with almost nothing down, carries more risk.

    Nominal vs. real value

    The value line in the chart is in future dollars, which will buy less than today's. The thin line takes out inflation at the rate you enter, using the Consumer Price Index. Over 1991 to 2026, home prices beat inflation by about 1.7 points a year. Over the last 12 months they fell behind it: prices rose 2.4% while the CPI rose 3.7%. Real growth is the fairer way to compare your home with other uses of your money.

    Owning also has costs that appreciation has to cover: property tax, insurance, maintenance (often 1% to 4% of value a year), interest and, eventually, selling costs. A home growing at 3% a year is not earning 3% on your money once those are counted.

    From appreciation to equity

    Equity is the value minus every loan secured by the home. It grows two ways: prices rise, and each payment knocks down the balance. Early in a loan most of the payment is interest, so price growth usually does more of the work at first. You can borrow against equity with a HELOC, but you only turn it into cash by selling or refinancing.

    When you sell your main home, federal law lets you exclude up to $250,000 of gain from income tax, or $500,000 for a married couple filing jointly, if you owned and lived in it for at least two of the last five years. Gains above that, and gains on rentals, may be taxed. IRS Publication 523 explains the rules.

    Tips for a better estimate

    • Start from a real value. Recent sales of similar homes nearby, or an appraisal, beat online estimates. Your property tax assessment is often well below market value.
    • Check your local index. FHFA's state and metro data show how your area has moved compared with the nation.
    • Run more than one rate. Look at 2%, 3% and 5% and plan around the low one.
    • Don't count on renovations. Most remodeling projects return less than they cost when you sell. Improve for your own use, not to beat the market.
    • Watch the balance too. A cash-out refinance or home equity loan resets the equity math. Enter the total you owe.

    This calculator is an educational projection, not an appraisal, a price forecast or financial, tax or legal advice. Talk with a licensed professional before making decisions based on your home's future value.

    Common questions

    What is the average home appreciation rate per year?

    FHFA's purchase-only House Price Index rose about 4.3% a year on average from January 1991 to August 2026, while consumer prices rose about 2.6% a year. Over the last 10 years the index averaged 6.9% a year, and over the last 12 months it rose 2.4%.

    How much will my house be worth in 10 years?

    Multiply today's value by (1 + annual growth rate) to the 10th power. A $400,000 home growing at the long-run average of 4.3% a year would be worth about $609,400 in 10 years, or about $537,600 at 3%. Actual prices can rise faster, slower or fall.

    Do houses always go up in value?

    No. U.S. home prices fell about 21% nationally from April 2007 to May 2011 on FHFA's index and took until 2016 to return to the 2007 peak. Some local markets fell far more, and prices can drop in any area when jobs, rates or supply change.

    How is home appreciation calculated?

    Future value equals current value × (1 + r)^n, where r is the yearly growth rate and n is the number of years. To find a past rate, divide the current value by the purchase price, raise it to the power 1 ÷ years, and subtract 1.

    Does home appreciation beat inflation?

    Over long periods, modestly. From 1991 to 2026 the FHFA index grew about 1.7% a year faster than consumer prices. Over shorter stretches it can lag inflation, as it did from 2007 to 2012. Subtract inflation to see real growth.

    How do I calculate my home equity?

    Subtract everything you owe on the home, including the mortgage and any home equity loan, from its current market value. To see the cash you would get from a sale, also subtract selling costs, which often run 6% or more of the price.

    Sources and assumptions

    • Home prices: FHFA House Price Index, U.S. purchase-only index, monthly and seasonally adjusted (January 1991 = 100; 444.61 in August 2026), read from the St. Louis Fed's FRED series HPIPONM226S on October 30, 2026. Growth rates are compound annual rates between the months named. The all-transactions index (USSTHPI, back to 1975) gives similar long-run averages, about 4.3% to 4.9% a year over 40 to 50 years.
    • Inflation: BLS Consumer Price Index for all urban consumers, seasonally adjusted (FRED CPIAUCSL), through September 2026.
    • Mortgage balance: standard fixed-rate amortization, M = P × r × (1 + r)n ÷ ((1 + r)n − 1), with r the monthly rate. Extra payments, escrow and refinancing are not modeled.
    • Selling costs: 6% default for commissions, transfer taxes and fees, as on our rent vs. buy calculator. Commissions are negotiable and transfer taxes vary by state.
    • Tax on the sale: IRS Publication 523, Selling Your Home. The calculator does not compute income tax.
    • Maintenance range: Fannie Mae, How to build your maintenance and repair budget.
    • This is a projection at a constant rate. Real prices move unevenly and can fall. Figures checked October 30, 2026.