Home Prices In Opportunity Zones Are A Mixed Bag But Follow National Trends

Home prices in opportunity zones are mixed but keep up with national trends.

According to real estate data provider ATTOM's first quarter report, 49% of opportunity zones around the country saw median single-family home and condo prices increase from the fourth quarter of last year to the first quarter of 2024. Prices were also up year over year in two-thirds of opportunity zones with enough data to measure.

"Another quarter, same result. That's the take-away yet again inside opportunity zones around the U.S., where home prices still lag far behind national numbers. Still, gains and losses mostly keep tracking overall market patterns," ATTOM CEO Rob Barber said.

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Implemented in 2019, opportunity zones are an economic development tool that encourages people to invest in distressed areas of the United States. They were created to spur economic growth and job creation in low-income communities while providing tax benefits to investors.

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Typical home values in most opportunity zones are well below those in other markets. In 78% of opportunity zones, the median first quarter prices were less than the U.S. median of $330,000. Median prices were less than $200,000 in about half the opportunity zones.

Median values in nearly 60% of opportunity zones increased 3.1% from the first quarter of 2023 to the same period this year.  But in areas where homes typically sell for less than $100,000, median prices were up in only 45% of the opportunity zones. Of the 3,512 opportunity zones the report covers, 34% had median prices below $150,000 in the first quarter, down from 38% a year ago.

In the first quarter, median values ranged from $200,000 to $299,999 in 23% of the opportunity zones analyzed, beating the nationwide first quarter median of $330,000 in 22%.

The Midwest has the largest portion of the lowest-priced opportunity zone tracts. Median home prices were less than $175,000 in 67% of the zones in the Midwest, followed by the Northeast at 47%, the South at 42%, and the West at 6%.

"The latest data shows opportunity zone housing markets continuing to attract considerable interest among homebuyers pushed out of higher-priced areas in a market with very limited supplies of homes for sale," Barber said. "That again points to the kind of economic viability needed to lure investors who may want to take advantage of the redevelopment incentives aimed at revitalizing those communities."

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