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Smaller cities are nation’s ‘healthiest’ for housing

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Takeaways:

  • Submarkets/suburbs of well-performing metros are the healthiest housing markets.
  • A number of Dallas submarkets are performing well.
  • No markets with a population over 300,000 cracked the top 10.

A recent analysis of 300 U.S. cities shows that the “healthiest” housing markets are primarily submarkets of Dallas, Denver and San Jose.

According to a recent WalletHub report, the Dallas submarkets of Frisco, Allen, McKinney, Plano, Carrollton and Richardson are among the top 10 healthy housing markets. All but one of these markets — Plano — has a population below 150,000.

Arvada, Colorado; Sunnyvale, California; Cary, North Carolina; and Santa Clara, California, also ranked in the top 10. None of these cities has a population that exceeds 150,000.

WalletHub determined “health” of a market based on 14 metrics, which focused on price appreciation, affordability, job growth, time on the market, volume of distressed sales and homes’ equity.

Source: WalletHub

 

When analyzing only cities with a population that exceeds 300,000, the healthiest markets are Austin, Seattle, Denver, San Jose and San Francisco.

Omaha, Nebraska; Aurora, Colorado; Portland, Oregon; Raleigh, North Carolina; and Fort Worth, Texas, ranked as the sixth to 10th healthiest larger markets.

The healthiest midsize cities — populations of 150,000 to 300,000 — in addition to Plano are:

  • Irvine, California
  • Fremont, California
  • Lincoln, Nebraska
  • Overland Park, Kansas
  • Boise, Idaho
  • Huntington Beach, California
  • Madison, Wisconsin
  • Irving, Texas
  • Laredo, Texas

WalletHub’s analysis found that Sunnyvale and Frisco are the top markets for price appreciation nationally, followed by New Orleans, San Francisco and Dallas.

When it comes to time on the market, lowest volume of homes with negative equity and highest-priced homes, California dominates the report’s ranking.

Berkeley, Sunnyvale, San Mateo, Santa Clara and San Francisco have the lowest volume of homes with negative equity. The San Francisco Bay Area is also the best region for selling fast, as all the previously mentioned markets — with the exception of Berkeley — had the lowest time on the market nationally.

The most expensive markets nationally are all in California — Santa Monica, San Francisco, Santa Barbara, Berkeley and Glendale.

Email Erik Pisor.