These Are the Cities With the Best (and Worst) Real Estate Markets (And It’s Not Where You Think)

Looking to settle down in a city that’s more real-estate friendly? (That is: You can actually afford to buy a house there?) If you’re on the East coast, you may want to consider moving out West—at least, that’s what the findings of a recent WalletHub report suggest.

When it comes to large cities, Seattle actually has the best real estate market, according to the report, which looked at several factors including median home price appreciation and home sales turnover rates. Nashville comes in second, with Colorado cities (Denver, Aurora, and Colorado Springs—in that order) taking the rest of the top 5 spots.

According to the report, the large city with the worst real estate market right now is Detroit (Cleveland, Miami, Baltimore and Indianapolis make up the rest of the bottom five), thanks to high maintenance costs, low appreciation rates and the percentage of unsold homes owned by banks. New York, despite being a dream city for many people, comes in 6th from the bottom—not so surprising when you consider the high cost of homes in the Big Apple and how competitive the market must be.

The report also broke down more specific results for different contributing factors, like foreclosure rates and what percent of homeowners’ income goes to maintenance costs. You can see some of the takeaways below:

• Best city: Berkeley, CA
• Worst city: Hartford, CT

• Best city: Tied between Seattle, Mesquite, TX, and Berkeley, San Mateo and Sunnyvale, CA
• Worst city: Newark, NJ

• Best city: Richmond, TX
• Worst city: Fayetteville, NC

• Best city: Ann Arbor, MI
• Worst city: Tied between Hartford, CT and Baltimore

• Best city: Fayetteville, NC
• Worst city: Tied between San Francisco, Berkeley, Santa Monica, Santa Barbara and Glendale, CA

• Best city: Naperville, IL
• Worst city: Detroit, MI

You can read the full WalletHub report here.