Four Connecticut municipalities are ranked among the top 300 cities in the country for housing market attractiveness and economic strength, according to WalletHub.
Stamford is No. 101 with a total score of 56.58, followed by Waterbury at 251, Bridgeport at 261 and Hartford at 265. Stamford came in at 93 for real estate market and 192 for affordability. Waterbury, with a total score of 47.92, has a real estate market rank of 235 and affordability rank of 244. Bridgeport, with a total score of 46.92, ranked 241 for real estate market and 268 for affordability while Hartford, with a total score of 46.52, ranked 233 for real estate market and 284 for affordability.
The top municipality on the WalletHub list is McKinney, Texas, with a total score of 72.33, No. 2 in real estate market and No. 3 in affordability. It is followed by Cary, North Carolina, and Irvine, California.
This year, the housing market is skewed much more toward sellers, with mortgage rates continuing to trend upward and home values having risen over 1.4% in the last year on average.
“If you aim for long-term growth, equity and profit with your housing purchase, you’ll need to look beyond tangible factors like square footage and style,” said Chip Lupo, WalletHub analyst. “Those factors certainly drive up property values. From an investor’s standpoint, though, they hold less significance than historical market trends and the economic health of residents.
To determine the best local real-estate markets in the U.S., WalletHub compared 300 cities of varying sizes across 17 key indicators of housing-market attractiveness and economic strength. Our data set ranges from median home-price appreciation to job growth.
“Current home prices are extremely important, but there’s much more that you need to look at when determining the health of a city’s real estate market,” Lupo said. “Factors like the cost of living, the potential for the value of homes to increase, the availability of recently-built homes and the quality of the city’s job market are all important to consider in conjunction with asking prices and interest rates.”
Some of the factors WalletHub looked at include:
Methodology
In order to determine the best real estate markets, WalletHub compared 300 cities across two key dimensions, “Real Estate Market” and “Affordability & Economic Environment.”
They evaluated those dimensions using 17 relevant metrics, which are listed below with their corresponding weights. Each metric was graded on a 100-point scale, with a score of 100 representing the healthiest housing market.
Finally, they determined each city’s weighted average across all metrics to calculate its overall score and used the resulting scores to rank-order our sample.
Each city in the sample was categorized according to the following population-size guidelines:
Large city: More than 300,000 residents
Midsize city: 150,000 to 300,000 residents
Small city: Fewer than 150,000 residents
Real Estate Market – Total Points: 80
Home Value Forecast: Full Weight (~8.00 Points)
Note: This metric is based on Zillow’s Home Value Forecast, which predicts the Zillow Home Value Index one year from now – April 2025.
Median Home-Price Appreciation: Full Weight (~8.00 Points)
Median Days on the Market: Full Weight (~8.00 Points)
Share of Seriously Underwater Mortgages: Full Weight (~8.00 Points)
Note: This metric measures the proportion of seriously underwater mortgages, where the combined estimated balance of loans secured by those properties was at least 25 percent more than their estimated market value.
Ratio of Rent Price to Sale Price: Full Weight (~8.00 Points)
Foreclosure Rate: Full Weight (~8.00 Points)
Share of People Delinquent on their Mortgage Debt: Full Weight (~8.00 Points)
Vacancy Rate: Full Weight (~8.00 Points)
Note: This metric was calculated as follows: Vacant Housing Units / Total Housing Units.
Share of Young Homes: Full Weight (~8.00 Points)
Note: “Young Homes” refer to housing units built between 2010 and 2023.
Building-Permit Activity: Full Weight (~8.00 Points)
Note: This metric measures the number of unit permits pulled per 1,000 residents.
Affordability & Economic Environment – Total Points: 20
Housing Affordability: Double Weight (~5.00 Points)
Note: This metric measures home price as share of income.
Maintenance Affordability: Full Weight (~2.50 Points)
Note: This metric measures maintenance costs as share of income.
Population Growth Rate: Full Weight (~2.50 Points)
Job Growth Rate: Full Weight (~2.50 Points)
Unemployment Rate: Full Weight (~2.50 Points)
Underemployment Rate: Full Weight (~2.50 Points)
Median Credit Score: Full Weight (~2.50 Points)
