Year to year, the housing market can feel like something of a rollercoaster as prices rise and fall, but that's nothing compared to the dramatic shift in property value over the decades. We've looked back to see how house prices have changed each year since 1963, along with key events that defined each 12-month period.
Click or scroll on to find out how much you’d have paid for a property the year you were born, to now...
1963 went down in history for all the wrong reasons. Most notably, it was the year when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated during his third year in office.
At that time the average house in the USA cost as little as $19,375 (equivalent to $199,319 in 2024), according to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
This was the year the world went crazy for The Beatles with their stratospheric hits including 'I Want To Hold Your Hand' and 'Can’t Buy Me Love'. Elsewhere, Nelson Mandela began a life sentence in prison in South Africa, the Civil Rights Act was signed into law in the USA and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was presented with the Nobel Peace Prize.
It wasn’t just Beatles singles you could buy for less, though – the average house cost just $20,300 (equivalent to $206,140 in 2024).
As the Vietnam War worsened, tens of thousands of supporters of the anti-war movement gathered in Washington to protest outside of the White House.
Meanwhile, in the US, house prices continued to grow – you’d have been looking at paying around $21,450 (equivalent to $214,361 in 2024) for the average property at the time.
The fashion scene became seriously groovy in the mid-60s as bold patterns, flowery shirts, flared trousers and miniskirts ruled the roost. 1966 also saw an American B-52 bomber accidentally drop three hydrogen bombs over Spain's Mediterranean coast and Indira Gandhi become India's first female prime minister.
The average house price in the US then was $22,925 (equivalent to $222,737 in 2024).
In December 1967, surgeon Christiaan Barnard carried out the world's first-ever human heart transplant on 53-year-old Louis Washkansky in Cape Town, South Africa. Although the heart functioned normally after the operation, Washkansky died from pneumonia 18 days later. The world also witnessed a wave of race riots that erupted in the US, as well as the Six-Day War in the Middle East.
That year, US house prices hit $24,125 (equivalent to $227,378 in 2024).
The assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr sent shockwaves through the world in 1968. The civil rights leader was fatally shot at the Lorraine Hotel in Memphis Tennessee. That year, JFK's brother, politician Robert F. Kennedy, was also assassinated, while Richard Nixon became president and Apollo 8 successfully orbited the moon.
House prices continued to climb in the US – the average price was $26,425 (equivalent to $239,037 in 2024).
One small step for man and one giant leap for mankind made 1969 go down in history thanks to the crew of Apollo 11 and astronaut Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon.
Back on Earth, houses in the US cost an average of $27,725 (equivalent to $237,812 in 2024).
The 70s came in with a bang: music was having its heyday and the largest-ever rock festival at the time took place on the Isle of Wight, UK with over 600,000 fans attending. Guitarist Jimi Hendrix performed a legendary set in the early hours of August 31 but within a few weeks, he died aged just 27. American rock singer Janis Joplin was also 27 when she died in 1970.
Houses dipped slightly in America; the average home went for $26,650 (equivalent to $216,219 in 2024).
House prices lifted in the early 1970s due to rising inflation. By 1971, they had reached $28,100 (equivalent to $218,414 in 2024).
The year was an iconic one for environmental activists, with the founding of Greenpeace marking the start of an eco-revolution. The organisation was created when a group set sail to an island off the coast of Alaska to protest a US nuclear weapons test – the boat was named 'The Greenpeace'.
The Duke of Winsor – once King Edward VIII of Great Britain – died on 28 May 1972 at his home in Paris at the age of 77. His relationship and eventual marriage to American divorcee Wallis Simpson led to the abdication crisis of 1936, which saw Edward renounce the throne for the woman he loved.
The same year the US witnessed a continued surge in house prices, with the average growing to $30,075 (equivalent to $226,495 in 2024).
The US suffered a recession from 1973-75 and while it did impact the housing market, it failed to dampen house prices. Your average home cost $35,100 (equivalent to $248,859 in 2024) in 1973 – the same year the Sydney Opera House first opened.
The iconic architectural masterpiece was designed by Jørn Utzon, who won an international competition searching for designs for the country's national opera house.
An eventful few years in American politics culminated in Richard Nixon being forced to resign after his involvement in the Watergate scandal came to light.
Despite the scandal, the average house sold for $38,725 (equivalent to $247,271 in 2024).
In the year Bill Gates and Paul Allen joined forces to create Microsoft, inflation rates in the US continued to skyrocket and US President Gerald Ford announced the end of America's involvement in the Vietnam War. In culture, Speilberg's genre-defining shark movie Jaws hit cinemas and Bruce Springsteen's 'Born to Run' played on radios everywhere.
Property prices continued to climb though, averaging $42,525 (equivalent to $248,823 in 2024).
In 1976, America celebrated its 200th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence by the Founding Fathers, Jimmy Carter defeated Gerald Ford in the presidential election and female cadets enrolled at West Point for the first time in history.
While Concorde dominated the news with the launch of its first commercial flights, cutting transatlantic journey times to just 3.5 hours, house prices went up to $48,050 (equivalent to $265,834 in 2024).
The year that the King of Rock ’n’ Roll passed away at the age of 42 in Memphis, Tennessee, you’d have been paying $54,350 (equivalent to $282,329 in 2024) for the average home.
Also in the news that year, Queen Elizabeth II celebrated 25 years on the throne and silent movie legend Charlie Chaplain died.
In 1978, arcade favourite Space Invaders was released in Japan. Now considered one of the most important video games of all time, it was the first fixed shooter game with endless play, meaning you never completed it. Pope John Paul II became the first non-Italian pope in more than 400 years and Woody Allen's romcom Annie Hall won the Best Picture Oscar, controversially beating Star Wars.
That year homes in the US were going for an average of $62,700 (equivalent to $302,726 in 2024).
Sony's iconic Walkman cassette player burst onto the scene in 1979 and revolutionized the way we listen to music forever, Mother Teresa won the Nobel Peace Prize and the disease Smallpox was eliminated.
That same year, average house prices rose to $71,900 (equivalent to $311,761 in 2024).
With the dawn of the 80s, US house prices continued surging, with the average home now costing $76,375 (equivalent to $291,778 in 2024).
That year, a US-led boycott saw 60 countries pull out from the Moscow Olympics in response to the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan.
The year Lady Diana Spencer married Prince – now King – Charles, the average US home cost a mere $83,175 (equivalent to $288,043 in 2024). In 1981, the annual average mortgage interest rate hit its highest peak in recorded history at an eye-watering 16.63%.
The royal wedding was held at St Paul's Cathedral on 29 July and their nuptials drew a global television audience of around 750 million people.
The year started with a tragedy when an Air Florida Boeing 737 plunged into the Potomac River in Washington, D.C., killing 78 people in January.
Also in 1982, Steven Spielberg's sci-fi movie E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial landed in theaters, earning nine Oscar nominations and four wins. The same year Michael Jackson released his sixth studio album Thriller which went on to sell 25 million copies and American house prices hovered around the $83,850 mark (equivalent to $273,530 in 2024).
In 1983, house prices in the US had risen to $89,775 (equivalent to $283,743 in 2024).
That year also saw the launch of the iconic Mario Bros. arcade game, which was developed by Nintendo. Since then, the franchise has spawned more than 200 different games.
If you were alive in 1984, 'Do They Know It’s Christmas?' was probably played in your house over the festive period, thanks to Bob Geldof and co., who went on to organize Live Aid the following summer.
Back then, houses cost an average of $97,550 (equivalent to $295,557 in 2024).
As the technology world marched on with the launch of Microsoft Windows 1.0, its first iteration, which landed in November 1985, house prices in the US hit $100,825 (equivalent to $294,975 in 2024).
That year, 39 American hostages being held in Lebanon were freed and the UK's Prince Charles and Princess Diana sparked "royal fever" during a visit to the US, which saw Diana famously dance with John Travolta at the White House.
When reactor 4 of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Station exploded in 1986, it turned a once-thriving community into a permanent ghost town.
In the US, average house prices shot up to $112,075 (equivalent to $321,904 in 2024).
Black Monday saw the stock market in the United States plunge 22% in a single day, causing a global financial crash.
At the time, the average home would have set you back $127,575 (equivalent to $353,522 in 2024).
NASA space shuttle flights resumed, following the Challenger disaster two years earlier which claimed the lives of seven astronauts. Also in 1988, Pan Am Flight 103 was bombed over Lockerbie in Scotland, claiming 259 people.
That year, you’d have been looking to pay around $138,650 (equivalent to $368,947 in 2024) for a house in the US.
The year the reunification of East and West Germany was announced and the Berlin Wall finally fell, US house prices reached $148,125 (equivalent to $376,042 in 2024).
In February 1990, the world celebrated the release of Nelson Mandela, the South African anti-apartheid revolutionary and political leader who spent 27 years in prison.
Back in America, the average house price soared to $149,075 (equivalent to $359,053 in 2024) – but this market peak wasn’t to last...
In August 1991, the world's first website was created. If you were buying your first property in the US that year, you’d have been in luck – house prices dropped slightly, to an average of $147,275 (equivalent to $340,393 in 2024) as the economic bubble burst.
The birth of the Euro Disney Resort, now known as Disneyland Paris, coincided with a further drop in house prices in the US – you’d have been looking at paying $144,675 (equivalent to $324,612 in 2024).
In July 1993, the Japanese island of Okushiri was struck by a devastating tsunami, following the Hokkaidō earthquake. Waves of up to 10 metres crashed onto coastlines and around 239 people perished.
Back on US soil, the average American house price started to slowly climb again and a home would have set you back $147,475 (equivalent to $321,277 in 2024).
On 17 January 1994, a 6.7 magnitude earthquake hit the San Fernando Valley, California. The quake claimed the lives of 60 people, injuring 9,000 and causing an estimated $20 billion worth of damage.
Nationwide, US house prices averaged $154,175 (equivalent to $327,488 in 2024).
1995 was the year that saw Bill Clinton visit Northern Ireland, the first serving US president ever to do so. Bill and Hillary were met by rapturous crowds and the successful trip was seen as a step towards peace, with the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998.
In '95, US house prices averaged $157,750 (equivalent to $325,847 in 2024).
If you were born in 1996, you share your birth year with Dolly the sheep, the first mammal to have ever been cloned. In the US, house prices rose a little, averaging around $165,525 (equivalent to $332,100 in 2024).
1997 was a year marked by the tragic death of Princess Diana. Her funeral was watched by around 2.5 billion people around the world, making it one of the biggest televised events in history.
The same year, the average US home sold for $174,875 (equivalent to $342,990 in 2024).
While Russia suffered a major financial crisis in 1998, with the rouble tumbling a shocking 70% in value, US house prices faired better, rising again to $181,150 on average (equivalent to $349,848 in 2024).
The year was also notable because US President Bill Clinton first denied, then admitted, an affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky and Cambodian dictator Pol Pot died.
The end of the 1990s saw US house prices rocket yet again, hitting an average of $194,675 (equivalent to $367,845 in 2024).
In the same year, a momentous milestone was hit as the six-billionth person in the world was born, Australian voters rejected a proposal to become a Republic and the world prepared to celebrate the new millennium.
Many will remember 2000 as the year Air France Flight 4590 tragically crashed after taking off from Paris on a routine flight to New York, leaving no survivors. The accident contributed to the Concorde being grounded and finally put into retirement in 2003.
In the same year, US house prices rose fast again, breaking the 200,000 barrier with an average of $205,375 (equivalent to $375,443 in 2024).
On September 11 2001, the World Trade Center in New York City was destroyed during a devastating terror attack that shook the world.
In the same year as the atrocity, US house prices reached $211,050 (equivalent to $375,354 in 2024).
As the world marked Queen Elizabeth II’s 50th year on the throne of Great Britain, the New England Patriots shocked football fans everywhere by defeating the St. Louis Rams to take home their first Super Bowl victory and Halle Berry became the first Black woman to win the Best Actress Oscar.
In this landmark year, US house prices rose to an average of $226,700 (equivalent to $396,688 in 2024).
In 2003, the United States invaded Iraq with a combined force of troops from the UK, Australia and Poland. Country singer Johnny Cash died, as did Uganda's former dictator Idi Amin – and US illusionist David Blaine spent 44 days without food suspended in a glass box on the banks of the River Thames in London.
US house prices continued to race ahead again to $244,550 (equivalent to $418,388 in 2024).
In 2004, the defining story took place right at the end of the year: the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami struck 14 countries on Boxing Day and killed 230,000 people. Also that year, Mark Zuckerberg launched Facebook from his Harvard dormitory room and universally adored American sitcoms Friends and Frasier aired their final episodes.
The same year, US house prices climbed significantly again to $272,125 (equivalent to $453,487 in 2024).
In 2005, the Catholic Church saw a shake-up when Pope John Paul II passed away and Benedict XVI was anointed pope.
The same year, US houses sold for an average of $291,275 (equivalent to $469,494 in 2024).
The year 2006 saw take-off for the UK housing market, as well as for the New Horizons Probe, which was launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida to explore Jupiter and Pluto.
That year, house prices climbed once again to $303,900 (equivalent to $474,536 in 2024).
By 2007, house prices had risen to an average of $309,800 (equivalent to $470,352 in 2024) in the US.
However, it wasn’t to last – a global economic crisis sent values tumbling. The Great Recession of 2007-2009 was the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression of the 1930s.
Citigroup was the largest bank to suffer from the global financial crisis.
House prices plunged in major markets, with the average home in the US having a price tag of $289,075 (equivalent to $422,659 in 2024).
As the US welcomed President Barack Obama into the White House as the 44th president, US property prices fell slightly.
If you were house-hunting in 2009, you could buy a place for an average of $269,350 (equivalent to $395,224 in 2024).
At the time of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, considered one of the biggest environmental disasters in history, $272,025 (equivalent to $392,708 in 2024) was the average price for a home in the US.
In 2011, house prices had fallen fractionally again to $264,600 (equivalent to $370,300 in 2024).
The same year, the Arab Spring anti-government protests were well underway, ending with the fall of Gaddafi and the liberation of Libya.
2012 saw Austrian Felix Baumgartner break the record for the world’s highest skydive, reaching a maximum velocity of 833.9mph (1,342kmph) in his 24-mile (38.6km) high leap.
Back on Earth, the US housing market was stabilising, with house prices climbing to $288,225 (equivalent to $395,185 in 2024).
The year Edward Snowden leaked information about the NSA’s PRISM mass surveillance program, shocking the world with the revelations, the average US home cost $321,650 (equivalent to $434,647 in 2024).
2013 also saw Pope Benedict XVI unexpectedly resigning due to ill health, President Obama being inaugurated for his second term in office and the bombing of the Boston Marathon.
While the world was shocked by the mysterious disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 in March 2014, which vanished with 239 people on board, US house prices climbed again, averaging $345,450 (equivalent to $459,357 in 2024).
Headlines that shook the world included the death of Robin Williams, Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimean peninsula and a deadly Ebola pandemic struck West Africa.
On 27 August, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that the social platform had passed a billion users – or one in seven people, according to Zuckerberg. Also in 2015, same-sex marriage was made legal across the US, while Iran reached a nuclear deal with several world powers, including America.
For those living in the US, a home would have set them back $350,450 (equivalent to $465,453 in 2024).
2016 saw Britain narrowly vote to leave the European Union, in a move that would quickly be coined 'Brexit'. Around the world, fans mourned the passing of musical greats David Bowie and Prince, as well as actor Alan Rickman who played Professor Snape in the Harry Potter films and boxer Muhammad Ali.
On average in 2016, homes cost US buyers $359,650 (equivalent to $471,721 in 2024).
In August 2017, the first total solar eclipse crossed the US from the West Coast to the East Coast – the first to do that since 1918. The phenomenon caused such a frenzy that it sparked a run on special eclipse-viewing safety glasses. It could also be partially seen from parts of Europe and Africa.
During the same year, North Korea launched a ballistic missile over Japan, five million people took part in women's rights marches across the country and US house prices continued to increase. Houses cost, on average, $381,150 (equivalent to $489,493 in 2024).
There was cause for another royal celebration in 2018, as Prince Harry and Meghan Markle tied the knot at Windsor Castle in a high-profile soiree attended by the likes of Oprah Winfrey, George and Amal Clooney and the Beckhams.
At the same time, US house prices rose slightly, reaching an average of $382,475 (equivalent to $479,483 in 2024).
2019 saw plenty of big headlines. The college admissions cheating scandal saw 50 people – including actresses Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin – charged with conspiracy to influence admissions. Overseas, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's son Archie was born and Paris' iconic Notre Dame Cathedral tragically caught fire.
Meanwhile, house prices in the US increased even further, with the average property costing buyers $379,875 (equivalent to $467,748 in 2024).
Of course, 2020 will forever be known for one thing: Covid-19. The pandemic caused global lockdowns across more than 90 countries and half of the world's population, along with economic uncertainty, mass job losses and widespread recessions.
Amazingly, property prices in the US only went up, this time averaging $387,900 (equivalent to $471,809 in 2024).
2021 brought with it a new political shift as Joe Biden became the 46th president of the United States. His inauguration was big news, although not quite as big as Michelle Obama’s outfit or Bernie Sanders' winter wear (remember all those memes?).
Despite 2020 bringing the world to a halt, US house prices jumped massively in 2021 reaching an average of $452,675.
2022 was a year of extreme highs and lows. In June, UK homes rolled out the bunting to celebrate the Queen's Platinum Jubilee, only to mourn the monarch's passing just three months later. Putin declaring war on Ukraine caused additional unrest, while the FIFA World Cup in Qatar sparked excitement and controversy in equal measure.
Amazingly, among these ups and downs, house prices in the US rose by 14%, resulting in a peak average of $516,425.
In a year marked by global unrest, feel-good film Barbie smashed box office records in 2023. The movie, starring Margot Robbie and helmed by Greta Gerwig, became a global phenomenon and enjoyed the biggest opening weekend ever for a film directed by a woman.
That year, average US house prices fell to $507,125.
In 2024, Hurricane Helene killed at least 225 people when it hit Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas and Tennessee in September. It dumped more than six months of rain in some places and caused historic flooding. Hurricane Milton followed closely behind, taking the lives of at least 17 people. Elsewhere, Mexico elected its first female president and in the UK both King Charles and the Princess of Wales were diagnosed with cancer.
US house prices reached an average of $510,700 over the first half of the year. While prices are predicted to creep up until at least 2028, only time – and global events – will tell...
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