The Nation’s Best (and Worst) Housing Markets

Pulte Homes’ Waterstone development in Frisco, TX, which WalletHub ranks as the top residential market in the US.

WASHINGTON, DC—New home sales in July reached a zenith not seen since before the downturn. With that in mind, personal-finance website WalletHub conducted an analysis of the nation’s best residential real estate markets, comparing 300 US cities according to 16 key metrics.

Among these metrics: percentage of homes with negative equity, average number of days a house is on the market, percentage of homes selling for a gain, median home-price appreciation, home sales turnover rate, rent-to-sale price ratio, foreclosure rate, mortgage delinquency rate, number of bank-held homes, vacancy rate, building-permit activity, housing affordability, maintenance affordability, population growth rate, job growth rate and unemployment rate. The scores for each were combined, for a total of up to 100.