New numbers show Seattle homeowners are gaining $54.24 of home equity every working-hour.
Zillow released the numbers Monday. The company noted home values are appreciating 3.5 times faster than the minimum wage, which is $15 in Seattle. Seattle ranks third in the country in the report. San Jose tops the list of appreciation relative to the minimum wage.
By comparison, the typical U.S. homeowner is gaining $7.09 of equity per working-hour, $0.16 less than the federal minimum wage.
In 24 of the 50 largest U.S. cities, home value appreciation per working-hour is higher than the local minimum wage, the report said.
Zillow added that many renters are struggling to come up with enough money for a down payment to break into the market. Rents increased 5.4 percent while home values jumped 12.3 percent.
“As home values continue to rise at a rapid clip, many homeowners have earned more in home equity over the past year than they would have by working a minimum wage job – and in some areas, more than they’d have earned even if they had a job paying a six-figure annual salary,” said Zillow senior economist Aaron Terrazas in a press release release. “But equity ‘earnings’ are a lot different than the salary typically taken home on the first and fifteenth of each month; it is not money that accumulates directly into a checking account or that can be spent on daily needs. Equity is only available once a homeowner chooses to sell a home, and even then is often subject to various taxes and other expenses.”
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