26 growing cities where homes are getting more affordable
- Home prices have taken off in the last few years, even though mortgage rates are high.
- Even when property prices fall, they're often still cost-prohibitive at over $500,000.
- Here are the 26 cities where houses are getting cheaper and populations are growing.
Scoring an attractive deal on a house in a popular market may seem like an impossible task, but a new report indicates that there are dozens of US cities that fit that description.
Affording a home has been a Herculean challenge in recent years due to rising property prices and stubbornly high mortgage rates. Those factors made the third quarter of 2023 the least affordable market for homebuyers since 1985, Business Insider reported last year.
The going rate for a single-family home jumped 5.7% from the prior year to $407,600 in April, according to data from the National Association of Realtors cited in a June 20 report by real-estate listings site Zoocasa. Gains were most notable in the West and Northeast regions, where home prices surged about 9% due to limited inventory and firm demand.
And while houses in some cities have gotten less expensive this year, most markets have gotten pricier — even after property values rocketed higher during the pandemic.
Although government data show home sale prices peaked in late 2022, only 35 of the 109 US cities included in Zoocasa's analysis had cheaper homes in May than in July 2022.
Even more discouraging for buyers is that in more than a third of those cities, the going rate for single-family homes is over $500,000. That means only 20% of the markets surveyed have homes selling for under half a million dollars and are also getting more affordable.
26 growing cities where home prices are down
Since cities with falling home prices are relatively rare, homebuyers might assume that those markets are getting cheaper because they're becoming less popular.
However, there are over two dozen markets where property prices have fallen in recent years despite enjoying an influx of residents, according to Zoocasa's new report.
Researchers for the listings site cited the latest data from the US Census Bureau to see which cities with at least 100,000 people experienced population growth or declines of more than 0.5% between July 2022 and July 2023. Towns smaller than that threshold and markets with minimal population changes were excluded from this analysis.
Since the onset of the pandemic, moving has become more popular. Some families fled cities in search of more space and a lower cost of living, while others flocked to larger markets hoping to meet new people or because their employers forced them back into the office.
Home prices are influenced by a litany of complex factors, including a city's cost of living, economy, job market, and housing supply, which itself can be determined by construction costs. Population changes can affect all of those elements and, by extension, sway property prices.
Surprisingly, only nine of the 35 cities where home prices have declined since mid-2022 have had their populations shrink, meaning price drops are likely due to supply exceeding demand.
That leaves 26 markets where home prices are down despite sizable population growth. Six of the dozen cities where prices have pulled back most while growing their populations are in Texas, and three of the top six that fit that description are in Arizona.
Those 26 such cities are listed below, along with each market's latest median home price, its median home price in July 2022, the difference between those two figures, and the city's population growth from mid-2022 to mid-2023.
1. Buckeye, Arizona
Home price change: -9.8%
Median home price 2024: $396,995
Median home price 2022: $440,000
Population growth from mid-2022 to mid-2023: 3.2%
Sources: Zoocasa, National Association of Realtors, US Census Bureau
2. San Antonio, Texas
Home price change: -8.1%
Median home price 2024: $314,000
Median home price 2022: $341,600
Population growth from mid-2022 to mid-2023: 1.5%
Sources: Zoocasa, National Association of Realtors, US Census Bureau
3. Glendale, Arizona
Home price change: -7%
Median home price 2024: $431,000
Median home price 2022: $463,500
Population growth from mid-2022 to mid-2023: 0.7%
Sources: Zoocasa, National Association of Realtors, US Census Bureau
4. Jersey City, New Jersey
Home price change: -6.9%
Median home price 2024: $519,000
Median home price 2022: $557,500
Population growth from mid-2022 to mid-2023: 0.7%
Sources: Zoocasa, National Association of Realtors, US Census Bureau
5. Meridian, Idaho
Home price change: -6.5%
Median home price 2024: $551,950
Median home price 2022: $589,990
Population growth from mid-2022 to mid-2023: 3.9%
Sources: Zoocasa, National Association of Realtors, US Census Bureau
6. Surprise, Arizona
Home price change: -6.2%
Median home price 2024: $438,470
Median home price 2022: $467,500
Population growth from mid-2022 to mid-2023: 2.7%
Sources: Zoocasa, National Association of Realtors, US Census Bureau
7. Fort Worth, Texas
Home price change: -5.4%
Median home price 2024: $335,907
Median home price 2022: $355,000
Population growth from mid-2022 to mid-2023: 2.2%
Sources: Zoocasa, National Association of Realtors, US Census Bureau
8. McKinney, Texas
Home price change: -4.5%
Median home price 2024: $525,000
Median home price 2022: $549,450
Population growth from mid-2022 to mid-2023: 2.8%
Sources: Zoocasa, National Association of Realtors, US Census Bureau
9. Frisco, Texas
Home price change: -4.5%
Median home price 2024: $525,000
Median home price 2022: $549,450
Population growth from mid-2022 to mid-2023: 2.4%
Sources: Zoocasa, National Association of Realtors, US Census Bureau
10. Arlington, Texas
Home price change: -4.4%
Median home price 2024: $339,500
Median home price 2022: $355,000
Population growth from mid-2022 to mid-2023: 0.9%
Sources: Zoocasa, National Association of Realtors, US Census Bureau
11. Nampa, Idaho
Home price change: -4.1%
Median home price 2024: $471,500
Median home price 2022: $491,600
Population growth from mid-2022 to mid-2023: 3.1%
Sources: Zoocasa, National Association of Realtors, US Census Bureau
12. Lubbock, Texas
Home price change: -3.6%
Median home price 2024: $236,200
Median home price 2022: $245,000
Population growth from mid-2022 to mid-2023: 1.1%
Sources: Zoocasa, National Association of Realtors, US Census Bureau
13. Goodyear, Arizona
Home price change: -3.4%
Median home price 2024: $490,000
Median home price 2022: $507,000
Population growth from mid-2022 to mid-2023: 4%
Sources: Zoocasa, National Association of Realtors, US Census Bureau
14. Huntsville, Alabama
Home price change: -3.4%
Median home price 2024: $313,900
Median home price 2022: $324,900
Population growth from mid-2022 to mid-2023: 1.6%
Sources: Zoocasa, National Association of Realtors, US Census Bureau
15. Durham, North Carolina
Home price change: -2.8%
Median home price 2024: $440,900
Median home price 2022: $453,600
Population growth from mid-2022 to mid-2023: 1.2%
Sources: Zoocasa, National Association of Realtors, US Census Bureau
16. Concord, North Carolina
Home price change: -2.6%
Median home price 2024: $380,000
Median home price 2022: $390,000
Population growth from mid-2022 to mid-2023: 1.3%
Sources: Zoocasa, National Association of Realtors, US Census Bureau
17. Bend, Oregon
Home price change: -1.8%
Median home price 2024: $726,500
Median home price 2022: $739,900
Population growth from mid-2022 to mid-2023: 1.3%
Sources: Zoocasa, National Association of Realtors, US Census Bureau
18. Centennial, Colorado
Home price change: -1.7%
Median home price 2024: $595,500
Median home price 2022: $605,500
Population growth from mid-2022 to mid-2023: 0.9%
Sources: Zoocasa, National Association of Realtors, US Census Bureau
19. St. George, Utah
Home price change: -1.4%
Median home price 2024: $552,000
Median home price 2022: $560,000
Population growth from mid-2022 to mid-2023: 2%
Sources: Zoocasa, National Association of Realtors, US Census Bureau
20. Thornton, Colorado
Home price change: -1.2%
Median home price 2024: $538,450
Median home price 2022: $545,000
Population growth from mid-2022 to mid-2023: 1.2%
Sources: Zoocasa, National Association of Realtors, US Census Bureau
21. Columbia, South Carolina
Home price change: -0.6%
Median home price 2024: $268,400
Median home price 2022: $269,900
Population growth from mid-2022 to mid-2023: 2%
Sources: Zoocasa, National Association of Realtors, US Census Bureau
22. Fargo, North Dakota
Home price change: -0.5%
Median home price 2024: $282,500
Median home price 2022: $283,800
Population growth from mid-2022 to mid-2023: 1.3%
Sources: Zoocasa, National Association of Realtors, US Census Bureau
23. Henderson, Nevada
Home price change: -0.2%
Median home price 2024: $465,400
Median home price 2022: $466,400
Population growth from mid-2022 to mid-2023: 1.8%
Sources: Zoocasa, National Association of Realtors, US Census Bureau
24. Las Vegas, Nevada
Home price change: -0.2%
Median home price 2024: $465,400
Median home price 2022: $466,400
Population growth from mid-2022 to mid-2023: 0.7%
Sources: Zoocasa, National Association of Realtors, US Census Bureau
25. Chesapeake, Virginia
Home price change: -0.2%
Median home price 2024: $375,000
Median home price 2022: $375,567
Population growth from mid-2022 to mid-2023: 0.6%
Sources: Zoocasa, National Association of Realtors, US Census Bureau
26. Seattle, Washington
Home price change: -0.1%
Median home price 2024: $755,300
Median home price 2022: $756,200
Population growth from mid-2022 to mid-2023: 0.8%
Sources: Zoocasa, National Association of Realtors, US Census Bureau