Someone posted this in politics. I pointed out that if you take out the top 1-5% and run those numbers again we will see a different picture. Wealth disparity didn't change much since the pandemic.
Lots of inheritance paying out is the only logical explanation.
Because nothing got better, but your parents dying and leaving you half a house is a huge gain in wealth when you don't have anything, leading to a huge percentage increase in wealth.
The numbers are inflation adjusted. One may disagree with official numbers capturing the "real" inflation, but inflation is the relative Cost of Living.
The article also gives a breakdown in where the gains were, and an estimate of how much net worth raise was from increases in home prices.