In cities where the residents move frequently, home price appreciation is the strongest. A new survey by LendingTree revealed a direct correlation between the two as it assessed the average housing tenure in 50 U.S. cities.
LendingTree said that on average, homeowners have been in their houses for about seven years, with a high of 7.54 years in Pittsburgh to a low of 6.36 in Las Vegas. While it noted that this difference might not seem like much, it pointed out a clear impact on home price growth in those cities.
Cities with a shorter housing tenure saw greater appreciation in home prices, and the difference was considerable.
In the top 10 cities with the longest tenure – including Pittsburg, New York and Buffalo – the average home price appreciation over a three-year span was 12%.
Conversely, the bottom 10 cities with the shortest tenure – like Las Vegas, Phoenix and Austin – saw prices appreciate 30% in that same timeframe.
“This suggests that higher housing turnover drives prices upward, while faster price appreciation could be enticing home owners to sell,” the study stated.
Interestingly, cities in the northeast dominate the top 10 list of those with the longest tenure, while hot and sunny cities have the shortest tenures, with Denver as the sole exception.
Here is a graphic illustrating the correlation between home price growth and housing tenure:
Here is a ranking of all 50 cities in terms of housing tenure, with home price appreciation rates noted (use the scroll bar at the bottom or click image to view entire chart):
