2016 Best Real-Estate Markets

With more new homes being sold this past July than in nearly 10 years, according to a U.S. Census Bureau report, the personal-finance website WalletHub conducted an in-depth analysis of 2016’s Best Real-Estate Markets.

To help prospective home buyers find the most attractive housing markets, WalletHub’s analysts compared 300 U.S. cities across 16 key metrics. WalletHub's data set ranges from “median home-price appreciation” to “housing affordability” to “job growth rate.”

Best Real-Estate Markets 

• 1 Frisco, TX
• 2 McKinney, TX
• 3 Richardson, TX
• 4 Murfreesboro, TN
• 5 Austin, TX
• 6 Allen, TX
• 7 Overland Park, KS
• 8 Thornton, CO
• 9 Plano, TX
• 10 Arvada, CO

Worst Real-Estate Markets

• 291 Baltimore, MD
• 292 Waterbury, CT
• 293 Hartford, CT
• 294 Fall River, MA
• 295 Flint, MI
• 296 Cleveland, OH
• 297 Elizabeth, NJ
• 298 Detroit, MI
• 299 Paterson, NJ
• 300 Newark, NJ

Where do the cities in Iowa fall on this list? Waterloo/Cedar Falls isn't even measured.

Iowa Ranks

• Des Moines - 89
• Cedar Rapids - 141
• Davenport - 164

Best vs. Worst

• San Mateo, Calif., has the lowest percentage of homes with negative equity, 1.9 percent, which is 27 times lower than in Hartford, Conn., the city with the highest, 51.2 percent.
• Berkeley, Calif., has the lowest average number of days until a house is sold, 38, which is 4.9 times lower than in Paterson, N.J., the city with the highest, 186.
• Simi Valley, Calif., has the lowest vacancy rate, 2.40 percent, which is 15.1 times lower than in Miami Beach, Fla., the city with the highest, 36.17 percent.
• Detroit has the lowest home price as a percentage of income, 131 percent, which is 11.5 times lower than in Santa Monica, Calif., the city with the highest, 1,508 percent.
• Austin, Texas, Lincoln, Nebr., and Livonia, Mich., have the lowest unemployment rate, 2.5 percent, which is 4.6 times lower than in Yuma, Ariz., the city with the highest, 11.4 percent.

Source: WalletHub