When you think of hot housing markets, cities like Miami, Las Vegas, or Los Angeles might come to mind. Or, other high-priced markets like New York, Washington or Boston.
The city that beat all those housing superstar cities for growth in home value was: Indianapolis, the capital of Indiana. It’s a friendly city with a tourism website that says “Call us Indy.”
The median home value in Indianapolis jumped 12% to $166,800 in April from a year earlier, almost double the national home-value gain of 6.1%, real estate giant Zillow said in a report. Looking at the top 10 gainers on Zillow's list, none had a median value above $280,000, showing the lower end of the nation’s housing market is driving demand.
The No. 2 city for home value gains in April was Atlanta, Georgia. The median value in the metro Atlanta area was $219,600 in April, up 9.6% from a year ago. In the third spot, Las Vegas home values jumped 9% to $279,900, making it the most expensive metro area of the top 10 cities.
At No. 4, Charlotte, North Carolina, saw an 8.7% gain in median value from a year earlier, to $208,500; and No. 5, Kansas City, Missouri, gained 7.9% to $192,900. The Dallas-Fort Worth metro area was No. 6, with an increase of 7.6%, to $243,900.
There was a tie for the No. 7 spot: Orlando, Florida, and Cincinnati, Ohio, both had a gain of 7.5%. The median value in Orlando was $238,900 and in Cincinnati, it was $169,900.
Rounding out the top 10, home values in Columbus, Ohio, gained 7.2% to $192,000 and in Detroit, Michigan, home values increased 6.9% to $162,200.
The priciest markets in the U.S. had gains that lagged the national average. The New York metro area saw home values grow 4.1% to $442,500, metro Los Angeles homes increased 1.4% to a median value of $649,500. Boston home values grew 3.7% to a median value of $465,000.
The most valuable metro area in the Zillow survey was San Jose, where all the tech millionaires have their homes. Its median home value was $1.2 million, a decline of 2.7% from a year ago.
Two things to note about the report: when citing cities, the report includes the metropolitan areas around those urban centers. And, it’s a report about home values, similar to the Zestimates you’ll find on the company’s website. While that’s a bit different than a report that looks at home sale prices, it’s influenced by recent sales because that’s what Zestimates are based on.
