House Price Change Calculator

What the percentage measures

Two numbers describe the same move in price, and they answer different questions. The percent change tells you how much the house gained in total since you bought it. The annualized rate tells you how fast it gained, on average, each year you held it. A house that rose 45 percent over seven years and one that rose 45 percent over two years share the same total change and tell a different story.

The dollar change matters too, and not just for bragging rights. Equity, proceeds after a sale, and the down payment on your next place all come out of the dollar figure. The percentage is what lets you compare your house with an index, a savings account, or another property.

The calculator on this page takes your purchase price and month, today's value or your sale price and month, your selling costs, and any money you put into the house. It returns the dollar change, the percent change, the annualized rate, and what you keep after costs.

The formulas, in plain terms

Everything the tool computes comes from four short formulas.

• Dollar change = current value - purchase price.
• Percent change = (current value - purchase price) / purchase price x 100.
• Years held = whole months between the purchase month and the value month, divided by 12.
• Annualized rate = (current value / purchase price) raised to the power 1 / years, minus 1.

The annualized line is a compound growth rate, the same math behind a CAGR. Dividing the total percent by the years held gives a different, larger number, because it ignores compounding. The tool also computes a benchmark: purchase price multiplied by (1 + benchmark rate) raised to the years held. That answers the question of where the price would sit if it had grown at the rate you enter.

For the net figure, the calculator takes selling costs as a percent of the sale price, subtracts your improvement spending, and compares the remainder with the purchase price. Months are counted as whole months between the two dates you pick, so entering the same months twice always reproduces the same numbers.

Worked example: a 2019 purchase sold in 2026

Suppose you paid $320,000 in May 2019 and the house is worth $465,000 in August 2026. That is 87 months, or 7.25 years. The dollar change is 465,000 - 320,000 = $145,000, and the percent change is 145,000 / 320,000 = 45.3 percent.

For the annualized rate, take the multiple 1.453 to the one over 7.25 power, which works out to 1.053, about 5.3 percent a year. The value multiple is 1.45x.

The table shows why the holding period matters as much as the gain itself. The same 45.3 percent total move reads as a hot market at two years and a lukewarm one at ten, and only the annualized figure makes those two stories comparable.

Now the benchmark. At the FHFA national rate of 2.1 percent a year, the same $320,000 would have grown to 320,000 x 1.021^7.25 = $372,037. The real price sits $92,963 above that mark, which means this house beat the national index over the period.

Selling at 6 percent in costs takes $27,900, leaving a net gain of 465,000 - 27,900 - 320,000 = $117,100, or 36.6 percent on the purchase price. That spread between 45.3 percent gross and 36.6 percent net is the part sellers tend to forget.

A slow market example

The same math works when the market is flat. A home bought for $250,000 in March 2022 and sold for $268,000 in March 2026 was held 48 months, or 4.00 years. The change is 268,000 - 250,000 = $18,000, and 18,000 / 250,000 = 7.2 percent in total.

The annualized rate takes the multiple 1.072 to the one over 4 power, which works out to 1.0175, or 1.8 percent a year. At the 2.1 percent benchmark, the house would have needed to reach 250,000 x 1.021^4 = $271,671 to keep pace, so the sale came in $3,671 short of the national index.

Selling costs are what turn a small gain into almost nothing. Six percent of $268,000 is $16,080, and 268,000 - 16,080 - 250,000 = $1,920, or 0.8 percent of the purchase price. Four years of ownership produced a paper gain of $18,000 and a take-home gain of $1,920.

Benchmarking against the FHFA index

The Federal Housing Finance Agency publishes the FHFA House Price Index, a repeat-sales index built from mortgages bought by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. In its most recent report, released August 25, 2026, US house prices rose 2.1 percent between the second quarter of 2025 and the second quarter of 2026, and 0.3 percent compared with the first quarter of 2026.

The figures come from the FHFA House Price Index report for the second quarter of 2026. FHFA's own frequently asked questions explain how the four-quarter and one-quarter changes are computed from the index values. The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller US National Home Price Index, published through FRED, is the other common benchmark. It draws on a wider set of transactions, so its rate can differ from FHFA's in the same quarter.

Use the benchmark as a scale, not a verdict. An index averages every conforming-mortgage sale in the country, while your result is one house on one street. The useful question is whether your holding period caught a rising market, and the table above shows how much that has varied quarter to quarter.

Selling costs and what you keep

Selling costs run from the agent commission to transfer taxes, title work, escrow fees, and any repair credits you grant the buyer. They are charged as a percent of the sale price, so they scale with the market, not with your mortgage balance. Enter the total percent you expect to pay and the calculator shows the net figure.

Improvements belong in the same ledger. Money you spent on a roof, a kitchen, or a system replacement raised the sale price, and it also counts against the gain. A seller who put $40,000 into the house over the 7.25 years in the example keeps 465,000 - 27,900 - 40,000 - 320,000 = $77,100, or 24.1 percent on the purchase price, instead of the 36.6 percent shown before improvements.

Where a percent change misleads

Four habits make this number lie to people, so check each one before you act on it.

• Confusing total and annual. The 45.3 percent gain spread over 7.25 years compounds to 5.3 percent a year. Dividing 45.3 by 7.25 gives 6.2 percent, which overstates the pace because it ignores compounding.
• Confusing the house return with your cash return. A return on the house is not a return on your cash. With $64,000 down on the example purchase, the $145,000 gain is more than twice the money you put in, while the full price change is 45.3 percent. Mortgage interest and selling costs belong in any real return figure.
• Reading nominal dollars as real. The calculator reports nominal changes. A 7.2 percent gain over four years can be close to zero once general inflation is subtracted, and the fuel, tax, and insurance you paid along the way never appear in the price change.
• Comparing one house with a national index. Neighborhood quality, school lines, condition, and the year of the roof move an individual price more than the national trend does. The benchmark answers whether the market was kind, not whether you bought well.

Use the gross percent change for one comparison, the annualized rate for another, and the net figure for the decision that involves money.