Here Are The 5 Most Profitable Housing Markets in the US
Data shows these are Counties where 2015 home sellers made an incredible 49% or better return on investment.
1. San Mateo County, Calif.
Home sellers in this Silicon Valley county raked in the most dough of residents anywhere: They saw a 65% difference ($388,000, on average) between the price they paid for their homes when they bought them and what they sold them for in 2015, according to an analysis released Thursday by real-estate analytics firm RealtyTrac.
The main reason sellers saw such large profits is that the area is popular with tech executives and high-paid employees, says Daren Blomquist, the vice president of RealtyTrac. The city of San Mateo itself is a short drive (or fancy bus ride) away from the headquarters of Google parent Alphabet, Facebook, and Oracle.
2. Alameda County, Calif.
In this county on the east side of San Francisco Bay, sellers saw a 64% difference between the price they bought their homes for and what they sold them for in 2015, and they walked away with $246,000 on average.
For the country as a whole, sellers in 2015 realized an 11% gain (or an average of $20,378 profit) in sale price compared with purchase price. And homeowners sold at a loss in just 19 of the 155 markets examined by RealtyTrac.
3. Santa Clara County, Calif.
Another Bay Area county ranks near the top of this list (don’t worry, we’ll move across the country for the No. 4 spot): Santa Clara County. Sellers here took home an average of $315,000, with a 63% difference between their buy and sell prices.
These massive price gains come as home prices nationwide are on the rise: Nearly 40% of the real-estate markets in the U.S. hit new home-price peaks in 2015, RealtyTrac found. A study by Corelogic found that housing prices across the nation were up 6.3% in December 2015 as compared with December 2014.
4. Middlesex County, N.J.
The difference between what sellers in Middlesex County, located in north-central New Jersey and part of the New York City metropolitan area, paid for their homes vs. what they sold them for was 52%. They pocketed an average of $92,500.
The reason: “Millennials working in and around New York City and looking for more affordable homes with quick access to jobs are looking to Middlesex County, which is ideally situated along the train line between New York and Philadelphia,” says Blomquist. “Meanwhile, longtime homeowners in Middlesex County are taking advantage of this interest and cashing out.”
Indeed, 58% of homeowners in Middlesex County have owned for more than 10 years, compared with 48% nationwide, RealtyTrac data shows.
“Homeowners who have owned more than 10 years have built up good equity despite the home-price bubble forming and popping in between when they purchased and now,” Blomquist explains.
5. Multnomah County, Ore.
Home sellers in this county, which takes in a good portion of Portland, Ore., metro area, saw a difference in buy vs. sell price of 49% and walked away with roughly $97,000. “Driving up home prices in Portland are millennials fleeing from more high-priced millennial meccas like San Francisco and Seattle,” says Blomquist. “These millennials view Portland as a relative bargain for buying a home in a city that still offers many of the amenities they’re looking for when it comes to food, drink and culture.”
via MarketWatch | Lead image: Getty Images
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