With more new homes being sold this past July than in nearly 10 years, according to a U.S. Census Bureau report, the personal-finance website WalletHub conducted an in-depth analysis of 2016’s Best Real-Estate Markets.
To help prospective home buyers find the most attractive housing markets, WalletHub’s analysts compared 300 U.S. cities across 16 key metrics. Our data set ranges from “median home-price appreciation” to “housing affordability” to “job growth rate.”
| Best Real-Estate Markets | Worst Real-Estate Markets | ||||
| 1 | Frisco, TX | 291 | Baltimore, MD | ||
| 2 | McKinney, TX | 292 | Waterbury, CT | ||
| 3 | Richardson, TX | 293 | Hartford, CT | ||
| 4 | Murfreesboro, TN | 294 | Fall River, MA | ||
| 5 | Austin, TX | 295 | Flint, MI | ||
| 6 | Allen, TX | 296 | Cleveland, OH | ||
| 7 | Overland Park, KS | 297 | Elizabeth, NJ | ||
| 8 | Thornton, CO | 298 | Detroit, MI | ||
| 9 | Plano, TX | 299 | Paterson, NJ | ||
| 10 | Arvada, CO | 300 | Newark, NJ | ||
Best vs. Worst
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- San Mateo, Calif., has the lowest percentage of homes with negative equity, 1.9 percent, which is 27 times lower than in Hartford, Conn., the city with the highest, 51.2 percent.
- Berkeley, Calif., has the lowest average number of days until a house is sold, 38, which is 4.9 times lower than in Paterson, N.J., the city with the highest, 186.
- Simi Valley, Calif., has the lowest vacancy rate, 2.40 percent, which is 15.1 times lower than in Miami Beach, Fla., the city with the highest, 36.17 percent.
- Detroit has the lowest home price as a percentage of income, 131 percent, which is 11.5 times lower than in Santa Monica, Calif., the city with the highest, 1,508 percent.
- Austin, Texas, Lincoln, Nebr., and Livonia, Mich., have the lowest unemployment rate, 2.5 percent, which is 4.6 times lower than in Yuma, Ariz., the city with the highest, 11.4 percent.
