Staff report 

Anyone living in the Austin Metropolitan Area knows that housing is tight.

And according to the latest WalletHub study, the best real estate markets continue to be in Texas, with Texas claiming six of the top ten spots in the nation.

WalletHub analyzed 300 U.S. cities across 16 key metrics to put together a prospective home buyers list. Those metrics included a look at the average number of days on the market, percentage of homes selling for a gain, median home-price appreciation, home sales turnover rate, rent-to-sale price ratio, foreclosure rate, mortgage delinquency and more.

In addition to the real estate market, the study looked at the affordability and economic environment of the cities, including maintenance affordability, population growth rate, job growth rate and unemployment rate.

The study took samples in three different population sizes: Large cities – more than 300,000 people; Medium cities – 150,000 to 300,000 people; and Small cities – fewer than 150,000 people.

A look at the average number of days until a house is sold puts mostly California and Washington cities in the top 5:

1. Berkley, CA

2. Seattle, WA

3. San Mateo, CA

T-4. Sunnyvale, CA

T-4. Bellenue, WA

T-4. Santa Clara, CA

Where do homes sit the longest, waiting for a sale? A look at the bottom 5 include:

295. Waterbury, CT

296. Paterson, NJ

297. Flint, MI

T-298. Detroit, MI

T-298. Hartford, CT

Top Ten Best Real-Estate Markets:

1. Frisco, TX

2. McKinney, TX

3. Richardson, TX

4. Murfreesboro, TN

5. Austin, TX

6. Allen, TX

7. Overland Park, KS

8. Thornton, CO

9. Plano, TX

10. Arvada, CO

Top Ten Worst Real-Estate Markets:

291. Baltimore, MD

292. Waterbury, CT

293. Hartford, CT

294. Fall Riber, MA

295. Flint, MI

296. Cleveland, OH

297. Elizabeth, NJ

298. Detroit, MI

299. Paterson, NJ

300. Newark, NJ

Other Best vs. Worst facts… 

• San Mateo, Calif., has the lowest percentage of homes with negative equity, 1.9 percent, which is 27 times lower than in Hartford, Conn., the city with the highest, 51.2 percent.

• Berkeley, Calif., has the lowest average number of days until a house is sold, 38, which is 4.9 times lower than in Paterson, N.J., the city with the highest, 186.

• Simi Valley, Calif., has the lowest vacancy rate, 2.40 percent, which is 15.1 times lower than in Miami Beach, Fla., the city with the highest, 36.17 percent.

• Detroit has the lowest home price as a percentage of income, 131 percent, which is 11.5 times lower than in Santa Monica, Calif., the city with the highest, 1,508 percent.

• Austin, Texas, Lincoln, Nebr., and Livonia, Mich., have the lowest unemployment rate, 2.5 percent, which is 4.6 times lower than in Yuma, Ariz., the city with the highest, 11.4 percent.

For more information on the report, go to wallethub.com/edu/best-real-estate-markets/14889