Baltimore ranked among worst real estate markets in U.S., WalletHub study

BALTIMORE, MD—With home values up around 3.3% in the past year and mortgage rates remaining high, the personal-finance website WalletHub this week released its report on the Best & Worst Real Estate Markets in 2024, to identify the most attractive cities for home-buyers and real estate professionals.

WalletHub compared 300 cities across 17 key metrics. The data set ranges from median home-price appreciation to housing affordability to job growth.

Baltimore came in second-to-last at No. 299 out of 300. McKinney, TX topped the list, with Frisco, TX coming in second.

Best Real Estate Markets Worst Real Estate Markets

1. McKinney, TX 291. Miami Beach, FL

2. Frisco, TX 292. Cleveland, OH

3. Cary, NC 293. Davenport, IA

4. Nashville, TN 294. Philadelphia, PA

5. Durham, NC 295. Peoria, IL

6. Gilbert, AZ 296. Jackson, MS

7. Charlotte, NC 297. Baton Rouge, LA

8. Denton, TX 298. Shreveport, LA

9. Allen, TX 299. Baltimore, MD

10. Port St. Lucie, FL 300. New Orleans, LA

Best vs. Worst

• San Jose, Sunnyvale and Santa Clara, California, have the lowest share of seriously underwater mortgages, which is 26.6 times lower than in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the city with the highest.
• Fontana, California, has the lowest vacancy rate, which is 16.6 times lower than in Miami Beach, Florida, the city with the highest.
• Flint, Michigan, has the lowest home price as a share of income, which is 12.7 times lower than in Santa Monica, California, the city with the highest.
• Rochester, New York, has the fewest median days on the market, which is six times fewer than in Lancaster, California, the city with the most.

“Current home prices are extremely important, but there’s much more that you need to look at when determining the health of a city’s real estate market,” said WalletHub analyst Cassandra Happe. “Factors like the cost of living, the potential for the value of homes to increase, the availability of recently-built homes and the quality of the city’s job market are all important to consider in conjunction with asking prices and interest rates. The best cities may not always be the cheapest, but they offer excellent housing options and long-term stability.”

“McKinney, TX, has the best real-estate market in the U.S., in large part because of its recent growth,” Happe added. “McKinney has the second-highest share of houses that were built between 2010 and 2021, at 35%, which means that new buyers have a lot of options for houses that may not need major maintenance for a while. In addition, McKinney ranks in the 50 least expensive cities for maintenance and telephone costs, and the 40 least expensive for energy costs. To top things off, McKinney has the 13th-highest job growth rate in the nation, at nearly 14% annually.”

The full list can be viewed online here at WalletHub.

Photo via Pixabay