City You Might Not Expect Lands Atop Housing Ranking

Elkhart, Indiana, is No. 1 in compilation by WSJ and Realtor.com
By Newser Editors,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 31, 2022 5:10 PM CDT
'Affordable,' and 'Outdoorsy' Dominate This Real Estate List
Stock image.   (Getty/Tom Merton)

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:"

  1. Elkhart-Goshen, Indiana
  2. Burlington, North Carolina
  3. Johnson City, Tennessee
  4. Fort Wayne, Indiana
  5. Billings, Montana
  6. Raleigh, North Carolina
  7. Rapid City, South Dakota
  8. North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton, Florida
  9. Topeka, Kansas
  10. Visalia-Porterville, California

And the bottom 10 on the list of the 300 biggest metro areas:

  1. McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, Texas
  2. Lake Charles, Louisiana
  3. Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington (Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland)
  4. Albany-Schenectady-Troy, New York
  5. Kingston, New York
  6. Jackson, Mississippi
  7. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
  8. Odessa, Texas
  9. Shreveport-Bossier City, Louisiana
  10. New York-Newark-Jersey City
See the full rankings, along with the full methodology. (Read more real estate stories.)

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