A unique ranking of cities for prospective home-buyers puts a city on top that might not be familiar to many—Elkhart, Indiana. The metro area of the city of approximately 200,000 people is No. 1 in the rankings compiled by the Wall Street Journal and Realtor.com. Their idea was to find places that provide a good value (including a potential return on investment) and also are nice places to live, with jobs available. "All of the top 20 markets in our index fall into one of two categories: affordable or outdoorsy," says George Ratiu of Realtor.com. "For many young professionals, especially those with growing families, the cost premium of living in a city like San Francisco or New York has lost its allure during the pandemic." The top 10 on the "Summer Emerging Housing Markets Index:"
- Elkhart-Goshen, Indiana
- Burlington, North Carolina
- Johnson City, Tennessee
- Fort Wayne, Indiana
- Billings, Montana
- Raleigh, North Carolina
- Rapid City, South Dakota
- North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton, Florida
- Topeka, Kansas
- Visalia-Porterville, California
And the bottom 10 on the list of the 300 biggest metro areas:
- McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, Texas
- Lake Charles, Louisiana
- Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington (Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland)
- Albany-Schenectady-Troy, New York
- Kingston, New York
- Jackson, Mississippi
- Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
- Odessa, Texas
- Shreveport-Bossier City, Louisiana
- New York-Newark-Jersey City
See the
full rankings, along with the full methodology. (Read more
real estate stories.)
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