With home values around 3.3 percent in the past year and mortgage rates remaining high, the personal-finance website WalletHub recently released its report on the “Best Real Estate Markets in 2024.”
WalletHub compared 300 cities across 17 key metrics. The data set ranged from median home-price appreciation to housing affordability to job growth.
The top 10 markets, according to the survey were: McKinney, Texas; Frisco, Texas; Cary, N.C.; Nashville, Tenn.; Durham, N.C.; Gilbert, Ariz.; Charlotte, N.C.; Denton, Texas; Allen, Texas; and Port St. Lucie, Fla.
The 10 worst real estate markets were: Miami Beach, Fla.; Cleveland; Davenport, Iowa; Philadelphia; Peoria, Ill.; Jackson, Miss.; Baton Rouge, La.; Shreveport, La.; Baltimore; and New Orleans.
Best versus worst takeaways from the survey were:
- San Jose, Sunnyvale and Santa Clara, Calif., have the lowest share of seriously underwater mortgages, which is 26.6 times lower than in Baton Rouge, La., the city with the highest.
- Fontana, Calif., has the lowest vacancy rate, which is 16.6 times lower than Miami Beach, Fla., the city with the highest.
- Flint, Mich., has the lowest home price as a share of income, which is 12.7 times lower than in Santa Monica, Calif., the city with the highest.
- Rochester, N.Y.. has the fewest median days on the market, which is six times fewer than in Lancaster, Calif., the city with the most.