Report: KCMO Home Prices Surge by 46% Since Pandemic

Posted February 27, 2025

Five years following the pandemic the price of homes across the nation has grown more than a decade’s worth.

A new report from Zillow published Thursday found home values in the U.S. increased 45% since the start of the pandemic five years ago. Additionally, there are nearly a million more $1 million homes nationwide on the market since the pandemic.

Since February 2020, the value of a home has surged by 46.6 % in Kansas City, while rent price has increased by 38.2% in the same time. In the past five years, the value of a $1 million home has also shifted. In the metro area, the size of a typical home costing $1 million has decreased from an average of 4,411 square feet in January 2020 to 3,736 square feet in January 2025.

Nationally, the typical $1 million home is about 70 square feet smaller than when the pandemic began

The Miami market has grown more than any other major metro area in home values and rent growth. In other markets such as Austin, the metro area’s home values reached the highest year-over-year growth of 40.3% in the year ending August 2021. However, Austin also experienced the biggest year-over-year decline as rising mortgage rates thanks to new construction projects.

“A perfect cocktail of lower mortgage rates, higher savings and a growing desire for space drove housing demand to new heights during the pandemic,” senior economist at Zillow, Orphe Divounguy, said in the report. “Just about every major market experienced price growth far above what they’d become accustomed to, resetting the financial bar for homeownership.”

The report also found more home buyers are using online tools for home shopping. Today, seven out of 10 buyers — up from 52% in 2019 — say 3D tours help them get a better feel for the space than photos. Additionally, 62% say they wish more listings had 3D tours, up from 46% in 2019.