15 Best Real Estate Markets in 2021

Are you ready to buy a house? With mortgage rates at record lows, now is a particularly good time to jump into the housing market. Of course, some local real estate markets are better than others when it comes to buying a home (and eventually getting a sizable return on your investment).

So, where is the best place in America to buy a home? According to WalletHub’s recent study, it’s Texas. In fact, five of the top 10 best real estate markets in the country are located in the Lone Star State. The personal finance website compared 300 large and mid-sized cities in the U.S. across 18 key indicators of “housing-market attractiveness and economic strength.” Indicators included home prices, median days on the market, foreclosure rates, median home-price appreciation, and typical maintenance costs – among others. Several interesting tidbits that the study found included:

• Toledo, Ohio, had the lowest home price as a share of income.
• Centennial, Colorado, had the lowest vacancy rate.
• Daly and San Mateo, California, had the lowest share of seriously underwater mortgages.
• Santa Monica, CA had the lowest percentage of delinquent mortgage holders.
• Durham, NC had the lowest maintenance costs as percent of income.

Curious where the top 15 real estate markets in the country are located? Here are WalletHub’s 2021 best places to buy a home in the U.S. Each city includes housing data from the U.S. Census Bureau and Realtor.com as well as cost of living information from AreaVibes.