Study: Most of 2017’s Best Real-Estate Markets Are in Red States; 8/10 Worst in Blue States

A U.S. flag decorates a for-sale sign at a home in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Washington, August 21, 2012. (Photo: Reuters)

A new in-depth analysis by WalletHub of the of 2017’s Best Real-Estate Markets finds more are in Red States, while 8 of the 10 worst are in Blue states. The study compared 300 cities across 21 key metrics, including median home-price appreciation, home sales turnover rates and job growth.

Four of the 10 best are in Texas, the largest Republican state in the nation, with only two being in a solidly Democratic state–Seattle and Bellevue, Washington. On the flip side, solidly Blue New Jersey and Connecticut trail the nation with 3 and 4 Bottom 10 slots, respectively.

Regionally, the Northeast repeatedly trails the nation in most housing indicators, including existing home sales and pending home sales. However, there are still some positive indicators in deeply Democratic areas.

Berkeley, California, for instance, has the lowest share of homes with negative equity, at 1.51%. That’s 28.6 times lower than in Hartford, Connecticut, the city with the highest at 43.23%.