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The 10 Real Estate Markets With Highest Home Price Appreciation

Allison Leung
3 min read
The 10 Real Estate Markets With Highest Home Price Appreciation

Today RealtyTrac released its November 2014 Residential & Foreclosure Sales Report, which details median prices for sales of residential properties nationwide. The data indicates the median sales price of single family homes and condos across the U.S. to be $190,000 in November, up 15 percent from a year ago. Distressed homes, defined as those in foreclosure or bank-owned, reached a median sales price of $128,625, the highest since December 2009 and up 18 percent since the same time last year.

The median sales price of both non-distressed and distressed properties in some stage of foreclosure was up 35 percent in the month of November from the low point of $141,000 in March 2012.

“Home price appreciation on average was 6 percent among all metro areas with a population of 500,000 or more,” said RealtyTrac vice president Daren Blomquist. “We saw strong price appreciation in Rust Belt cities like Detroit, Cleveland and Chicago contrasted with single-digit price appreciation in many coastal California markets, Phoenix, Las Vegas, and the District of Columbia.”

The 10 Real Estate Markets With Highest Home Price Appreciation

Nationwide, the share of homes with pricing above $200,000 increased, while those priced below $200,000 decreased, with the biggest increase in share of home sales in the $500,000 to $1 million range, up 20 percent.

Related: Why Investors Undeniably Matter to the Real Estate Market

The biggest increase in median sales price among metro areas with populations of 500,000 or more were as follows:

10. Miami, FL (up 13 percent)

9. Chicago, IL (up 13 percent)

8. Atlanta, GA (up 15 percent)

7. Memphis, TN (up 16 percent)

6. Houston, TX (up 16 percent)

5. Lakeland, FL (up 18 percent)

4. Modesto, CA (up 18 percent)

3. Dayton, OH (up 20 percent)

2. Toledo, OH (up 23 percent)

1. Detroit, MI (up 32 percent)

Metro areas nationwide also saw major home price appreciation acceleration, with 42 of 102 areas surveyed seeing more growth this year than the previous year. Markets with the most dramatic acceleration of appreciation included Dayton, OH, Akron, OH, Tulsa, OK, Augusta-Richmond County, GA-SC and Lancaster, PA.

home_appreciation_acceleration
Source: RealtyTrac

 

What Does This Mean for Investors?

Investors will likely notice a shift in the areas where investing in real estate is most profitable.

Says Blomquist, “Twenty states still saw annual decreases in distressed property prices so we will continue to see a fragmented recovery as investors move from once hot markets such as Phoenix, Atlanta and many California markets and into markets such as Charlotte, Columbus, Ohio, Dallas and Oklahoma City.”

While short sales and distressed sales accounted for 12.6 percent of all residential property sales, down from 14.8 percent in November 2013, certain areas did see an increase in short sales and foreclosure auction sales (so if you’re in those areas, you might want to learn more about the short sale process and foreclosure process!).

Related: 6 KEY Attributes that Affect the Risk Level of a Rental Market

The five states that saw an increase in shares of short sales compared to last year were:

  • Rhode Island (from 0.1 percent last year to 3.6 percent this year)
  • West Virginia (from 1.0 percent last year to 2.4 percent this year)
  • Vermont (from 0.7 percent last year to 1.5 percent this year)
  • New Jersey (from 5.2 percent last year to 6.2 percent this year)
  • Illinois (from 7.2 percent last year to 7.3 percent this year)

The biggest increases in annual shares of foreclosure auction sales occurred in the following metro areas:

  • Cincinnati, OH (from 0.6 percent last year to 3.4 percent this year)
  • Jacksonville, FL (from 2.4 percent last year to 4.9 percent this year)
  • Orlando, FL (from 2.1 percent last year to 4.3 percent this year)
  • Lakeland, FL (from 4.2 percent last year to 6.3 percent this year)
  • Louisville, KY (from 0.8 percent last year to 2.9 percent this year)

The markets with the highest short sale and distressed sale shares were concentrated in Las Vegas, Central California and Florida.

Screen Shot 2014-12-30 at 4.37.51 PM
Source: RealtyTrac

How Will You Use This Information to Inform Your Investing Decisions?

The “hot” real estate markets have shifted within the past year — so where do you see yourself investing next?

Will you take advantage of the places where short sales and foreclosure auctions are on the rise?

Have you seen much change in your local market?

Leave a comment below, and let’s discuss!

Note By BiggerPockets: These are opinions written by the author and do not necessarily represent the opinions of BiggerPockets.