Housing Markets That Changed the Most This Decade

From a city with a 161% median home price increase to one with 77% fewer homes for sale, U.S. metros have experienced dramatic housing shifts since 2010

The U.S. housing market is ending the decade in a vastly different place than it began. In 2010, the market was in the middle of its greatest downturn in history: Home values were plummeting and the share of mortgages in delinquency was at an all time high. Heading into 2020, home values have recovered along with the economy, and now many parts of the country are grappling instead with new challenges like high home prices and a lack of homes for sale. Below are the housing markets that have experienced the most dramatic changes over the past decade.

Highest percent increase in home prices: Fort Lauderdale

Florida was one of the epicenters of the foreclosure crisis and experienced some of the biggest declines in home values leading up to 2010. But as the sunshine state recovered from the housing crash, home values also increased, leading to the nation’s largest post-crisis recovery. In Fort Lauderdale, the median home price increased 161% from $106,000 at the beginning of 2010 to $278,000 at the end of 2019. The median home price has more than doubled this decade in Orlando (+127%) and Miami (+106%) as well. 

Biggest contrast between increase in home prices and decline in incomes: Las Vegas

Las Vegas, where incomes fell dramatically during the great recession and haven’t yet fully recovered, saw the biggest divergence between home prices and incomes. In Las Vegas, the median home price increased at an average annual rate of 14.1% over the decade, while the median income declined at an average annual rate of 0.4%. As incomes fell, residents could no longer afford to own a home, which caused a simultaneous decline in the homeownership rate from 59% in 2010 to a low of 52% in 2016, followed by a slight increase to 53% as of 2017. Even though the homeownership rate remains low, demand from investors looking to rent out or flip homes has supported high home price growth.

Largest dollar value jump in home prices: San Francisco

Eight out of the nation’s top 10 metros for home price increases in dollar value were in California. In San Francisco, the median home price increased $711,000—from $698,000 at the beginning of 2010 to $1.4 million by the end of 2019. Two main factors led to San Francisco’s large price gains: a booming job market and a lack of homes for sale. By 2015, the unemployment rate in San Francisco was just 3.7% compared to 5.3% for the nation. By October, 2019, the city’s unemployment rate was 1.9%. At the same time, there are not enough housing units for all the workers in San Francisco, a reality true across California where home prices have risen dramatically in the last decade. 

Steepest drop in home supply: Salt Lake City

From the beginning of the decade to the end, the number of homes for sale declined by 77% in Salt Lake City, after taking seasonality into account. That’s because Salt Lake City homeowners are staying in their homes longer than usual. The typical Salt Lake City homeowner had spent 23 years in their home in 2019, versus 15 years in 2010. The number of homes for sale declined this decade in 95% of the markets we analyzed. The decline in homes for sale has made homebuying much more competitive than it was at the beginning of the decade. Currently, one in three Salt Lake City homes sells for above list price, compared to less than one in four homes at the start of the decade.  

Greatest decline in days on market: Long Island’s Nassau County

In Nassau County, the median time it takes to sell a home dropped by about four months—124 days—over the course of the decade. At the beginning of 2010 it typically took 180 days to sell a home; it now takes just 56 days. “During the housing crash there were a lot of short sales in Long Island, which are very difficult to close. I don’t see that at all anymore,” said Redfin agent Peggy Papazaharias. “In the last several years, prices sky-rocketed in Manhattan, which pushed many homebuyers to consider Long Island, and now demand is very strong.”
In 88% of the metros we analyzed, the time it takes to sell a home declined over the course of the decade. That’s thanks to a more competitive market where homebuyers have to move quickly to secure a home, and homebuyers and sellers having better access to information and data like available listings and home values via websites like Redfin.com.

Housing Market Changes This Decade by Metro

Metro	Seasonally Adjusted Median Home Price January 2010	Seasonally Adjusted Median Home Price October 2019	Annual Median Home Price Percent Increase 2010 to Present	Annual Median Income Growth 2010 to Present	Percent Change in Homes for Sale 2010 to Present	Seasonally Adjusted Median Days on Market January 2010	Seasonally Adjusted Median Days on Market October 2019
Anaheim, CA	$429,313	$715,189	6.8%	1.3%	-41.9%	38	57
Atlanta, GA	$123,600	$251,011	10.6%	1.0%	-51.9%	73	35
Austin, TX	$183,502	$324,522	7.9%	3.0%	-46.8%	100	32
Baltimore, MD	$238,667	$282,014	1.9%	2.0%	-39.8%	69	39
Boston, MA	$332,333	$497,488	5.1%	2.4%	-63.5%	104	27
Buffalo, NY	$114,458	$159,530	4.0%	2.0%	-39.7%	107	22
Chicago, IL	$183,824	$251,026	3.7%	1.2%	-44.0%	79	46
Cleveland, OH	$113,138	$156,882	4.0%	1.2%	-55.6%	120	50
Columbus, OH	$132,172	$218,788	6.7%	2.0%	-52.9%	66	48
Dallas, TX	$159,902	$301,925	9.1%	1.9%	-21.1%	53	47
Denver, CO	$202,896	$424,051	11.2%	2.8%	-63.4%	58	20
Fort Lauderdale, FL	$106,396	$278,058	16.5%	0.9%	n/a	n/a	65
Fort Worth, TX	$135,574	$253,890	9.0%	1.9%	-38.4%	56	37
Frederick, MD	$307,178	$417,741	3.7%	1.9%	-34.5%	36	34
Hartford, CT	$188,331	$216,777	1.5%	1.5%	n/a	97	68
Houston, TX	$156,987	$245,471	5.8%	2.0%	-10.3%	58	46
Indianapolis, IN	$112,317	$192,658	7.3%	0.9%	-73.3%	99	18
Jacksonville, FL	$142,878	$241,872	7.1%	1.0%	-40.2%	118	49
Kansas City, MO	$145,024	$222,845	5.5%	1.5%	n/a	99	30
Las Vegas, NV	$121,698	$288,711	14.1%	-0.3%	-55.3%	87	54
Los Angeles, CA	$339,021	$644,176	9.2%	1.3%	-43.3%	37	48
Louisville, KY	$138,522	$197,257	4.3%	2.0%	-62.6%	102	34
Memphis, TN	$115,766	$179,840	5.7%	1.2%	n/a	n/a	39
Miami, FL	$152,577	$313,811	10.8%	0.9%	n/a	na	72
Minneapolis, MN	$163,480	$282,804	7.5%	1.9%	-59.0%	68	28
Montgomery County, PA	$280,407	$319,166	1.4%	1.4%	-46.7%	87	41
Nassau County, NY	$367,907	$461,500	2.6%	1.9%	-48.8%	180	56
New Brunswick, NJ	$294,011	$330,815	1.3%	1.9%	52.2%	120	55
Oakland, CA	$335,722	$743,678	12.5%	3.2%	-60.0%	20	20
Oklahoma City, OK	$132,061	$182,370	3.9%	2.4%	n/a		31
Orlando, FL	$114,369	$259,723	13.0%	0.5%	-61.7%	104	32
Philadelphia, PA	$152,151	$210,857	4.0%	1.4%	-45.0%	59	42
Phoenix, AZ	$129,613	$286,319	12.4%	0.8%	-54.5%	37	41
Pittsburgh, PA	$117,796	$173,047	4.8%	2.6%	n/a	98	70
Portland, OR	$241,702	$407,920	7.1%	2.6%	-52.4%	94	28
Providence, RI	$190,931	$289,947	5.3%	1.7%	-45.5%	75	48
Richmond, VA	$203,511	$261,588	2.9%	1.5%	-61.5%	83	22
Rochester, NY	$121,578	$153,610	2.7%	1.0%	-51.7%	92	20
Sacramento, CA	$207,891	$413,333	10.1%	1.0%	-66.5%	46	20
Salt Lake City, UT	$216,293	$344,691	6.1%	2.2%	-76.9%	102	29
San Antonio, TX	$148,679	$236,375	6.0%	2.1%	-13.0%	63	48
San Diego, CA	$320,663	$592,662	8.7%	1.7%	-59.3%	30	27
San Francisco, CA	$698,461	$1,409,749	10.4%	3.2%	-58.2%	31	23
San Jose, CA	$510,708	$1,079,022	11.4%	3.2%	-54.3%	19	33
Seattle, WA	$332,241	$566,633	7.2%	2.6%	-68.9%	59	18
Tampa, FL	$133,498	$237,522	8.0%	1.3%	-54.7%	126	32
Warren, MI	$88,959	$218,172	14.9%	1.1%	-5.8%	49	26
Washington, DC	$292,242	$416,434	4.4%	1.9%	-47.5%	37	32
West Palm Beach, FL	$159,556	$285,832	8.1%	0.9%	-18.7%	147	76

Methodology

Home prices, days on market, and homes for sale are seasonally adjusted. We limited the metros we analyzed to the top 50 largest metros by current population. Median wage growth is based on data from the 2010 5-year ACS survey and the 2017 5-year ACS survey.