Home Prices in Nearly Half of Opportunity Zones Increase
Median prices again rose year-over-year in two thirds of Opportunity Zones. That’s according to ATTOM Data Solutions’ third special report analyzing qualified Opportunity Zones established by Congress in the Tax Cuts and Jobs act of 2017. The report, released in late February, examined about 3,700 zones with sufficient sales data to analyze, meaning they had at least five home sales in each quarter from 2005 through the fourth quarter of 2019.
The report found that about half the zones included in the report, where there was sufficient sales data, saw median home prices rise more than the national increase of 9.4% from the fourth quarter of 2018 to the fourth quarter of 2019.
The report also shows that 78% percent of the zones had median home prices in the fourth quarter of 2019 that were less than the national median of $257,000.That’s almost the same percentage as in the third quarter of 2019. About 48% of the zones had median prices of less than $150,000.
Among the report’s major findings for zones with sufficient data to analyze:
- Median prices rose from the fourth quarter of 2018 to the fourth quarter of 2019 in 66% of the Opportunity Zones. In 34% of zones, they declined or stayed the same.
- Median prices in 47% of Opportunity Zones rose year-over-year more than values increased nationally. The national increase from the fourth quarter of 2018 to the fourth quarter of 2019 was 9.4%.
- In 20 states, year-over-year median price increases in at least half the Opportunity Zones beat the national 9.4% figure. Those with the most such zones were Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Arizona, Ohio and New Jersey.
- Among the Opportunity Zones with sufficient data to analyze, California had the most, with 465, followed by Florida (332), Texas (234), Pennsylvania (166) and North Carolina (165).
- Of the zones analyzed, 1,776 (48%) had a median price of less than $150,000 in the fourth quarter of 2019, and 594 (16%) had medians ranging from $150,000 to $199,999. Another 529 (14%) ranged from $200,000 up to the national median price of $257,000, while 817 (22%) were more than $257,000.
- In metropolitan statistical areas with sufficient sales data to analyze, 84% of Opportunity Zones had median fourth quarter sales prices that were less than the median values for the surrounding MSAs. Among those, 25% had median sales prices that were less than half the figure for the MSAs. At the same time, 16% of the zones had median sales prices that were equal to or above the median sales price of the broader MSAs.
- The Midwest continued to have the highest rate of Opportunity Zone tracts with a median home price of less than $150,000 (73%), followed by the South (58%), the Northeast (51%) and the West (12%).
- States with the highest percentage of census tracts meeting Opportunity Zone requirements included Wyoming (17%), Mississippi (15%), Alabama (13%), North Dakota (12%) and New Mexico (12%). Washington, D.C., was also among the leaders (14%). Nationwide, 10% of all tracts qualify.