Idaho State Capital building and a crowd of residents gathering. Boise city and the Boise metro area have seen impressive growth in home values from 2018 to 2019.
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While across the U.S. many housing markets have been undermined by a recent slowdown, in many other markets times have been good. Looking at the year-over-year change in median home values for the 300 largest cities, sourced from Zillow, reveals an impressive number of cities that have seen home values appreciate by more than 10% in just one year: 25 cities in total.
Find out which cities have seen home values soar in the last year, and what these markets have in common.
Top Housing Markets and Key Takeaways
Texas: Five out of the top 25 cities are in Texas: Midland, Beaumont, Odessa, Irving and Dallas. All these cities have seen home values rise by over 11% year-over-year. Midland saw the biggest increase, 17.2%, from a median home value of $222,6000 in May 2018 to $260,900 in May 2019.
Texas property taxes might be on the higher-side, but with tons of cities to choose from and plentiful supply without oversaturation makes homes in Texas both affordable and a good investment.
New York metro area: Three cities in New Jersey made the list of the top 25 cities where home values have skyrocketed: Newark, Paterson and Elizabeth. All are located in North Jersey, within the orbit of New York City. They’ve all also experienced increases in home value greater than 12%, with Newark registering the fourth-largest increase of 14.1% year-over-year. Unfortunately, for much of the rest of New Jersey, housing has not been hot as owner-occupiers continue to decline in recent years.
The Mountain Division: The U.S. Census Bureau divides the country into regions — Northeast, South, Midwest and West. It also splits the country up further into divisions:
- Northeast: Middle Atlantic and New England
- South: South Atlantic, East South Central and West South Central
- Midwest: East North Central and West North Central
- West: Mountain and Pacific
The Mountain division stands out notably among the top 25 cities. Six cities from the Mountain division — Pueblo, Colorado; Nampa, Idaho; Boise, Idaho; Santa Fe, New Mexico; North Las Vegas, Nevada; and West Valley City, Utah — all made the list of the top cities where home values have surged over the last year. Nampa, in fact, tops the list with 19.4% growth year-over-year in median home value, from $196,000 last May to $234,000 this year.
Take a look below at the top 25 major cities in the U.S. that have experienced huge increases in home value from 2018 to 2019.
| Rank | City | State | Metro | County | Size Rank | Past Year Change (%) | May 2018 Median Home Value |
May 2019 Median Home Value |
| 1 | Nampa | ID | Boise City | Canyon County | 292 | 19.4% | $196,000 | $234,000 |
| 2 | Midland | TX | Midland | Midland County | 200 | 17.2% | $222,600 | $260,900 |
| 3 | Boise | ID | Boise City | Ada County | 104 | 15.6% | $259,300 | $299,700 |
| 4 | Newark | NJ | New York-Newark-Jersey City | Essex County | 81 | 14.1% | $231,000 | $263,500 |
| 5 | Paterson | NJ | New York-Newark-Jersey City | Passaic County | 218 | 13.2% | $233,200 | $264,000 |
| 6 | Bloomington | IN | Bloomington | Monroe County | 253 | 12.9% | $173,900 | $196,300 |
| 7 | Pueblo | CO | Pueblo | Pueblo County | 195 | 12.7% | $151,200 | $170,400 |
| 8 | Elizabeth | NJ | New York-Newark-Jersey City | Union County | 270 | 12.2% | $264,100 | $296,400 |
| 9 | Beaumont | TX | Beaumont-Port Arthur | Jefferson County | 220 | 11.9% | $97,300 | $108,900 |
| 10 | Spokane | WA | Spokane-Spokane Valley | Spokane County | 86 | 11.8% | $192,000 | $214,600 |
| 11 | Concord | NC | Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia | Cabarrus County | 287 | 11.7% | $183,400 | $204,900 |
| 12 | Odessa | TX | Odessa | Ector County | 197 | 11.6% | $153,100 | $170,900 |
| 13 | Irving | TX | Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington | Dallas County | 117 | 11.6% | $197,300 | $220,100 |
| 14 | Dallas | TX | Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington | Dallas County | 10 | 11.4% | $190,400 | $212,100 |
| 15 | Indianapolis | IN | Indianapolis-Carmel-Anderson | Marion County | 14 | 11.3% | $128,800 | $143,400 |
| 16 | Buffalo | NY | Buffalo-Cheektowaga-Niagara Falls | Erie County | 90 | 11.3% | $76,200 | $84,800 |
| 17 | West Valley City | UT | Salt Lake City | Salt Lake County | 244 | 11.3% | $272,100 | $302,800 |
| 18 | Santa Fe | NM | Santa Fe | Santa Fe County | 272 | 11.1% | $345,000 | $383,300 |
| 19 | Saginaw | MI | Saginaw | Saginaw County | 256 | 11.0% | $92,800 | $103,000 |
| 20 | Warren | MI | Detroit-Warren-Dearborn | Macomb County | 246 | 10.6% | $125,800 | $139,100 |
| 21 | Grand Rapids | MI | Grand Rapids-Wyoming | Kent County | 134 | 10.6% | $147,600 | $163,200 |
| 22 | Kissimmee | FL | Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford | Osceola County | 169 | 10.6% | $197,800 | $218,700 |
| 23 | Stone Mountain | GA | Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell | Dekalb County | 297 | 10.4% | $142,500 | $157,300 |
| 24 | North Las Vegas | NV | Las Vegas-Henderson-Paradise | Clark County | 113 | 10.3% | $237,400 | $261,800 |
| 25 | Islip | NY | New York-Newark-Jersey City | Suffolk County | 64 | 10.2% | $344,400 | $379,700 |
Related: The Best Cities in Utah to Own Investment Property
Other Arenas of Action
Southern metro areas saw impressive home value appreciation. Concord, North Carolina, located in the Charlotte metro area, saw its median home value rise by 11.7%, and now exceeds $200,000. Stone Mountain in the Atlanta metro area saw home values rise by 10.4%, more than $10,000 in absolute dollars. Kissimmee, Florida is similar, located in the expanding Orlando metro area, seeing home values grow by 10.6%, from under $200,000 in May 2018 to nearly $220,000 by May 2019.
Michigan got some love too, with three cities among the top-25, although its cities had low starting points in terms of home values. For instance, Saginaw experienced an 11% rise in home values, from a median home value of $92,800 in May 2018 to $103,000 in May 20119.
Check out the full list of cities that have seen home values take off since last year.