ATTOM Data Solutions released its third special report analyzing qualified Opportunity Zones. In this report, ATTOM looked at about 3,700 zones with sufficient sales data to analyze, the company announced.

The report found that about half the zones included in the report, where there was sufficient sales data, saw median home prices rise more than the national increase of 9.4 percent from the fourth quarter of 2018 to the fourth quarter of 2019. The report also shows that 78 percent of the zones had median home prices in the fourth quarter of 2019 that were less than the national median of $257,000 – almost the same percentage as in the third quarter of 2019.

Some 48 percent of the zones had median prices of less than $150,000, ATTOM Data Solutions said.

“Home prices in thousands of Opportunity Zone neighborhoods targeted for revival across the United States continued to ride the tide of the national housing market boom in the fourth quarter of 2019, marching along with broad trends and even doing better in many areas,” Todd Teta, chief product officer with ATTOM Data Solutions, said in the release. “These areas are among the most vulnerable to economic downturns. As a result, the recent upswing could change on a dime if the broader housing market flattens out or sags. But for now, the price gains are a crucial measure that neighborhoods designated as Opportunity Zone tax breaks hold significant allure for potential residents.”

High-level findings from the report include:

• Median prices rose from the fourth quarter of 2018 to the fourth quarter of 2019 in 66 percent of the Opportunity Zones with sufficient data to analyze. In 34 percent of zones, they declined or stayed the same.
• Median prices in 47 percent of Opportunity Zones with sufficient data to analyze rose year-over-year more than values increased nationally. The national increase from the fourth quarter of 2018 to the fourth quarter of 2019 was 9.4 percent.

In 20 states, year-over-year median price increases in at least half the Opportunity Zones beat the national 9.4 percent figure. Those with the most such zones were Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Arizona, Ohio and New Jersey.

Of the zones analyzed, 48 percent had a median price of less than $150,000 in the fourth quarter of 2019, and 16 percent had medians ranging from $150,000 to $199,999.

In metropolitan statistical areas with sufficient sales data to analyze, 84 percent of Opportunity Zones had median fourth quarter sales prices that were less than the median values for the surrounding MSAs. Among those, 25 percent had median sales prices that were less than half the figure for the MSAs.

The Midwest continued to have the highest rate of Opportunity Zone tracts with a median home price of less than $150,000 (73 percent), followed by the South (58 percent), the Northeast (51 percent) and the West (12 percent).

ATTOM Data Solutions is a premier property database and first property data provider of Data-as-a-Service (DaaS).