Economy Watch: Seattle, Denver Among Best Cities for Residential Investors
WalletHub determined the top markets based on their prospects for long-term growth, equity and profit for investors. The firm also compared the health of each market's real estate sector, including affordability and the economic environment.
By D.C. Stribling, Contributing Editor
Among large U.S. cities (more than 300,000 people) Seattle is the best residential market in the country, followed by Nashville, Denver, Aurora and Colorado Springs, Colo., according to a recent WalletHub report. The firm determined the “best” U.S. residential markets based on their prospects for long-term growth, equity and profit for investors.
For cities with 150,000 and 300,000 people, McKinney, Texas (a suburb of Dallas) was No. 1, followed by Cary, N.C.; Gilbert, Ariz.; Grand Rapids, Mich.; and Fort Collins, Colo.
And for cities of fewer than 150,000 people, the best residential markets, according to WalletHub, were Frisco, Allen, and Richardson, all in Texas, followed by Bellevue, Wash.
To determine the best real estate markets, WalletHub compared 300 cities across two key dimensions, namely the health of the real estate market, including affordability and the economic environment. Within those two broad dimensions, the company used 21 relevant metrics, each on a 100-point scale, with a score of 100 representing the healthiest housing market.
Real estate market metrics included home-price appreciation, average number of days till a house is sold, share of underwater houses, foreclosure rate and the city’s ratio of rent price to sale price. Broader economic metrics included population growth, job growth, unemployment and underemployment rates, and median credit scores.
