When buying a home — be it to live in or to rent out to generate passive income — it’s important to know your local housing market conditions. Is it strong, stable and growing? Are mortgage rates decent? Or is it in an irreversible slump?
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GOBankingRates determined the 50 worst housing markets in the U.S. for growth. To do this, we looked at the 200 largest metro statistical areas (MSAs) according to the real estate market and found the one-year percentage change in home value, the two-year percentage change in home value, the mean days from pending to close, the share of listings with a price cut and the mean price cut.
Here are some key findings:
Austin ranks as the worst housing market in America. Most notably, two-year home values have dropped nearly 18%.
The second-worst housing market for growth is New Orleans.
Other Texas markets are also struggling, including, but not limited to, Longview, Laredo and Dallas.
Five of the 10 worst housing markets are in Florida. Among these are North Port, Cape Coral and Crestview.
Read on for details on the 50 U.S. housing markets that are the worst for growth.
Ron Bird Photography / Compass
June 2024 home value: $844,402
One-year home value change (percentage): 6%
Two-year home value change (percentage): 1.6%
Mean price cut: $80,737
Share of listings with price cut: 20.4%
Mean days to close: 29
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Kruck20 / iStock.com
June 2024 home value: $399,253
One-year home value change (percentage): 3.2%
Two-year home value change (percentage): 5.3%
Mean price cut: $14,907
Share of listings with price cut: 29.3%
Mean days to close: 34
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zrfphoto / Getty Images/iStockphoto
June 2024 home value: $240,017
One-year home value change (percentage): 1.7%
Two-year home value change (percentage): 3.6%
Mean price cut: $11,512
Share of listings with price cut: 26%
Mean days to close: 34
Sean Pavone / Getty Images/iStockphoto
June 2024 home value: $455,582
One-year home value change (percentage): 1.3%
Two-year home value change (percentage): -0.71%
Mean price cut: $20,297
Share of listings with price cut: 24.3%
Mean days to close: 30
SeanPavonePhoto / Getty Images
June 2024 home value: $174,384
One-year home value change (percentage): 4.1%
Two-year home value change (percentage): 0.15%
Mean price cut: $11,597
Share of listings with price cut: 26%
Mean days to close: 34
Story Continues
Matt Tavares / Getty Images/iStockphoto
June 2024 home value: $548,869
One-year home value change (percentage): 4.6%
Two-year home value change (percentage): -5.5%
Mean price cut: $26,683
Share of listings with price cut: 23.2%
Mean days to close: 32
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Eric Fischer / Wikimedia Commons CC-BY-SA 2
June 2024 home value: $423,739
One-year home value change (percentage): 2.3%
Two-year home value change (percentage): 3.4%
Mean price cut: $21,070
Share of listings with price cut: 26.5%
Mean days to close: 37
SeanPavonePhoto / Getty Images/iStockphoto
June 2024 home value: $197,464
One-year home value change (percentage): 0.78%
Two-year home value change (percentage): 3.1%
Mean price cut: $11,977
Share of listings with price cut: 25%
Mean days to close: 36
June 2024 home value: $218,205
One-year home value change (percentage): 0.3%
Two-year home value change (percentage): 5.6%
Mean price cut: $12,216
Share of listings with price cut: 24.5%
Mean days to close: 26
Wirestock / Getty Images/iStockphoto
June 2024 home value: $500,073
One-year home value change (percentage): 0.72%
Two-year home value change (percentage): -4.4%
Mean price cut: $16,690
Share of listings with price cut: 22.9%
Mean days to close: 31
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batuhanozdel / Getty Images/iStockphoto
June 2024 home value: $1,180,321
One-year home value change (percentage): 5%
Two-year home value change (percentage): -7.3%
Mean price cut: $69,905
Share of listings with price cut: 17.6%
Mean days to close: 23
Not Home / Wikimedia Commons
June 2024 home value: $206,726
One-year home value change (percentage): -3.4%
Two-year home value change (percentage): 0.6%
Mean price cut: $10,330
Share of listings with price cut: 16.1%
Mean days to close: 28
Scott Catron / Wikimedia Commons
June 2024 home value: $498,019
One-year home value change (percentage): 2.6%
Two-year home value change (percentage): -4.4%
Mean price cut: $13,821
Share of listings with price cut: 29.1%
Mean days to close: 28
DenisTangneyJr / iStock.com
June 2024 home value: $309,499
One-year home value change (percentage): 0.48%
Two-year home value change (percentage): 0.48%
Mean price cut: $10,268
Share of listings with price cut: 28.2%
Mean days to close: 32
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Craig McCausland / iStock.com
June 2024 home value: $338,481
One-year home value change (percentage): 1.8%
Two-year home value change (percentage): 4.4%
Mean price cut: $11,694
Share of listings with price cut: 28.2%
Mean days to close: 37
benedek / Getty Images
June 2024 home value: $417,086
One-year home value change (percentage): 1.5%
Two-year home value change (percentage): -3.8%
Mean price cut: $17,579
Share of listings with price cut: 27.1%
Mean days to close: 29
tusharkoley / Shutterstock.com
June 2024 home value: $554,847
One-year home value change (percentage): 1.6%
Two-year home value change (percentage): -4.1%
Mean price cut: $23,109
Share of listings with price cut: 24.9%
Mean days to close: 29
Art Wager / iStock/Getty Images
June 2024 home value: $309,736
One-year home value change (percentage): 1.8%
Two-year home value change (percentage): 3.6%
Mean price cut: $12,737
Share of listings with price cut: 31.3%
Mean days to close: 34
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miroslav_1 / Getty Images/iStockphoto
June 2024 home value: $548,835
One-year home value change (percentage): 2.6%
Two-year home value change (percentage): -4.9%
Mean price cut: $18,638
Share of listings with price cut: 30.2%
Mean days to close: 27
DenisTangneyJr / Getty Images
June 2024 home value: $209,214
One-year home value change (percentage): -0.14%
Two-year home value change (percentage): 1.7%
Mean price cut: $9,877
Share of listings with price cut: 29%
Mean days to close: 33
RoschetzkyIstockPhoto / Getty Images/iStockphoto
June 2024 home value: $224,512
One-year home value change (percentage): 0.33%
Two-year home value change (percentage): 0.05%
Mean price cut: $17,191
Share of listings with price cut: 23%
Mean days to close: 30
TrongNguyen / Getty Images/iStockphoto
June 2024 home value: $261,013
One-year home value change (percentage): 0.81%
Two-year home value change (percentage): 1.7%
Mean price cut: $13,464
Share of listings with price cut: 28.9%
Mean days to close: 31
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Sean Pavone / Getty Images/iStockphoto
June 2024 home value: $315,149
One-year home value change (percentage): 1.4%
Two-year home value change (percentage): 1.5%
Mean price cut: $10,537
Share of listings with price cut: 30.2%
Mean days to close: 34
Giorgia Basso / Shutterstock.com
June 2024 home value: $258,289
One-year home value change (percentage): -1%
Two-year home value change (percentage): -0.94%
Mean price cut: $12,284
Share of listings with price cut: 23.3%
Mean days to close: 32
Anthony M. Inswasty / iStock.com
June 2024 home value: $401,971
One-year home value change (percentage): 2.5%
Two-year home value change (percentage): 2.9%
Mean price cut: $19,065
Share of listings with price cut: 29.6%
Mean days to close: 34
Art Wager / Getty Images
June 2024 home value: $312,052
One-year home value change (percentage): 1.4%
Two-year home value change (percentage): 0.7%
Mean price cut: $15,072
Share of listings with price cut: 28.8%
Mean days to close: 29
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Jonathan Ross / Getty Images/iStockphoto
June 2024 home value: $447,170
One-year home value change (percentage): 2%
Two-year home value change (percentage): -0.38%
Mean price cut: $21,392
Share of listings with price cut: 32.2%
Mean days to close: 32
Jacob Boomsma / Getty Images/iStockphoto
June 2024 home value: $464,036
One-year home value change (percentage): 1.5%
Two-year home value change (percentage): -4.6%
Mean price cut: $13,065
Share of listings with price cut: 31.6%
Mean days to close: 32
Muhammad Zulkifal / Getty Images/iStockphoto
June 2024 home value: $592,720
One-year home value change (percentage): 2%
Two-year home value change (percentage): -4.4%
Mean price cut: $19,067
Share of listings with price cut: 32.1%
Mean days to close: 28
Art Wager / Getty Images
June 2024 home value: $867,057
One-year home value change (percentage): 0.74%
Two-year home value change (percentage): -3.3%
Mean price cut: $34,693
Share of listings with price cut: 18.3%
Mean days to close: 39
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Jon Bilous / Shutterstock.com
June 2024 home value: $1,181,192
One-year home value change (percentage): 3.9%
Two-year home value change (percentage): -5.7%
Mean price cut: $89,350
Share of listings with price cut: 20%
Mean days to close: 26
ablokhin / Getty Images
June 2024 home value: $604,606
One-year home value change (percentage): 1.2%
Two-year home value change (percentage): 1.9%
Mean price cut: $46,104
Share of listings with price cut: 25.4%
Mean days to close: 38
Jimmy Emerson / Flickr.com
June 2024 home value: $445,687
One-year home value change (percentage): -0.69%
Two-year home value change (percentage): -0.96%
Mean price cut: $30,520
Share of listings with price cut: 28%
Mean days to close: 33
TriggerPhoto / Getty Images/iStockphoto
June 2024 home value: $390,185
One-year home value change (percentage): -2.3%
Two-year home value change (percentage): -1.9%
Mean price cut: $19,759
Share of listings with price cut: 23.7%
Mean days to close: 33
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f11photo / Getty Images/iStockphoto
June 2024 home value: $290,483
One-year home value change (percentage): -2.2%
Two-year home value change (percentage): -3.8%
Mean price cut: $12,408
Share of listings with price cut: 31.4%
Mean days to close: 30
sanya3 / Wikimedia Commons
June 2024 home value: $450,116
One-year home value change (percentage): -1.6%
Two-year home value change (percentage): -2.2%
Mean price cut: $24,603
Share of listings with price cut: 33.2%
Mean days to close: 37
Larry Gibson / Getty Images/iStockphoto
June 2024 home value: $243,729
One-year home value change (percentage): -6.4%
Two-year home value change (percentage): -11.8%
Mean price cut: $15,512
Share of listings with price cut: 26.8%
Mean days to close: 33
RoschetzkyIstockPhoto / iStock.com
June 2024 home value: $466,103
One-year home value change (percentage): -4.3%
Two-year home value change (percentage): -17.7%
Mean price cut: $25,088
Share of listings with price cut: 29.5%
Mean days to close: 23
Methodology: For this piece, GOBankingRates looked at the 200 largest metro statistical areas (MSA) according to the real estate market and found the following 10 factors. For each MSA, GOBankingRates found (1) a one-year percentage change in home value, (2) a one-year change in home value in USD, (3) a two-year percentage change in home value, (4) a two-year change in home value in USD, (5) for-sale inventory, (6) mean days from listing to pending, (7) mean list-to-sale ratio, (8) mean days from pending to close, (9) share of listings with a price cut, and (10) mean price cut. All data was sourced from Zillow’s June 2024 data. All 10 factors were then scored and combined with the highest score being the worst housing markets. In final calculations, factors (1), (2), (9) and (10) were weighted 2x and factor (5) was weighted 0.5x. All data was collected and is up to date as of Jul. 29, 2024.
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This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: 50 Worst Housing Markets in the US for Growth