SPOKANE VALLEY, Wash. — If you're looking to buy a house, there are few better places in the nation than Spokane Valley, according to a ranking by the personal finance website WalletHub.
Spokane Valley comes in as the 8th best real estate market in the nation. Spokane is farther down the list but still breaks the top 100, coming in at 66.
When compared to cities of similar sizes, Spokane Valley rises even farther to number 2 in the nation. When compared to other mid-sized cities, Spokane comes in at number 29.
To come up with the rankings, WalletHub examined "two key dimensions" - "Real-Estate Market" and "Affordability and Economic Environment."
WalletHub graded the cities out of a total of 100 points based on metrics like a forecast of how home values will change over time, housing affordability, maintenance affordability, population growth rate, and job growth rate, among other metrics. For a full list of metrics check out WalletHub's methodology.
Overall, Spokane Valley scored a total of 65 points out of a possible 100. Spokane scored 59.
Let's break down why the Valley is such a hot real estate market by looking at a few of WalletHub's specific data points:
- Home Value Appreciation: Home values are expected to rise by 4.27% by June 2021, according to Zillow. Spokane Valley ranks #40 in the nation in this category.
- Average number of days until a house is sold: On average, sellers in Spokane Valley can expect their home to be on the market for 49 days before someone scoops it up. The Valley ranks #35 in the nation in this category.
- Share of homes selling for a gain: In Spokane Valley, a whopping 97% of homes sell for more than buyers bought them for, making it #65 in the nation in this category.
- Share of listings with prices cut: In Spokane Valley, 12.08% of listings will cut their asking price before the home is sold. Spokane Valley ranks #48 in the nation in this category.
- Share of "Underwater" homes: An underwater home is a property where a buyer has taken out a higher loan for it than the market value of the home is worth. In Spokane Valley, 4.34% of homes are "underwater," making it #39 in the nation.
- Job Growth Rate: Jobs in Spokane Valley are growing at a rate of 14%, making Spokane Valley #27 in the nation for that metric.
- Building permit activity: Building permit activity assesses the number of unit permits are filed for per every 1,000 residents. In Spokane Valley, there are 10 permits per every 1,000 residents. This puts Spokane Valley at #27 in the nation.
Let's look at the same data points for Spokane:
- Home Value Appreciation: Home values are estimated to appreciate in Spokane by 4.4% before next June. Spokane is #27 in the nation for this category.
- Number of days until a house is sold: On average, a house is typically on the market in Spokane for 62 days before it sells. This makes Spokane #76 in the nation for this category.
- Share of homes selling for gain: In Spokane, 92.07% of homes are selling for more than they were originally purchased for. This makes Spokane #134 in the nation for this category.
- Share of listings with price cuts: In Spokane, 12.97% of listings will slash prices before homes are purchased. This makes Spokane #76 in the nation for this category.
- Share of "underwater homes": In Spokane, 5.77% of homes are "underwater." In other words, 5.77% of homeowners are repaying more on a loan than the market value of their home is worth. This puts Spokane at #94 in the nation for this category.
- Job growth rate: In Spokane, jobs are growing at a rate of 11.57%. This puts Spokane at #43 in the nation for this category.
- Building permit activity: Building permit activity assesses the number of unit permits are filed for per every 1,000 residents. In Spokane, there are 1.96 building permits per 1,000 people. This puts Spokane at #190 in the nation in this category.
Overall, our neighbor to the east, Boise, went away with the top spot, and honor of number 1 real estate market in the nation, scoring 68 out of a possible 100 points.
