Home values rose in 2015 — though at a declining pace — with overall rent payments also trending upwards, according to Zillow.
The year is expected to end with total U.S. home values reaching $28.5 trillion, a 4.1% increase from 2014. Last year, in comparison, home prices rose by 6%.
National home values topped the December 2011 low by $5.3 trillion, but remained $782 billion shy of the high reached in October 2006.
"Total home value growth slowed this year, but there was still a significant increase in overall value, and many markets are more valuable than they've ever been," said Svenja Gudell, Zillow's chief economist, in a Dec. 30 press release.
Gudell added that "Americans are spending a lot of money on housing, and that will make affordability an important issue next year."
With renter households growing by 1.8 million in 2015, Americans paid $20 billion more in rent in 2015 than last year, Zillow found, bringing the total to $535 billion.
November also saw an uptick in home values, according to Zillow's monthly Home Value Index. The figure rose by 3.9% year-over-year, with particularly strong showings in Denver, Miami, Dallas, San Francisco, San Jose and Portland, Ore.
