Healthiest CO Housing Markets

SmartAsset released their Healthiest Housing Market Index for our state recently. SmartAsset used data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2016 5-Year American Community Survey and Zillow. The study considered these 4 factors in creating their index—stability (how long people had lived in their home), affordability as a percentage of income, days on market, and risk of loss. Nine metro Denver areas made their Top 10 List for Colorado—
Ken Caryl
Wheat Ridge
Centennial
Arvada
Highlands Ranch
Lakewood
Louisville
Littleton
Westminster

 

Two of the above factors really stood out to me. First, is how long people have lived in their current homes. Highlands Ranch was the fewest at 11.5 years up to 15.4 years in Centennial. State-wide the average is 14.7 years. WOW!!! The second factor was affordability as measured by home costs as a percentage of income. The lowest percentage recorded was in Louisville where it took just 18.6% of household income to buy the home. The least affordable city was Lakewood where it took 20.7% of your income to buy a home. State-wide the average was 29.1%.