By Stephanie Horan | SmartAsset
With mortgage rates falling and a renewed emphasis put on living space during COVID-19, U.S. home sales have boomed. Data from the National Association of Realtors shows that sales of previously owned homes increased by 20.7% over the month of June and rose an additional 24.7% during July. Meanwhile, based on the Census’ Survey of Construction, sales of new homes increased by 15.1% and 13.8% during June and July, respectively.
With homeownership becoming increasingly popular, SmartAsset examined the data to find the best states for homeowners. We compared all 50 states across 10 metrics: median price per square foot, home value appreciation, ratio of home value to income, foreclosures per 10,000 homes, average annual homeowners insurance, burglary rate, median annual property taxes, effective property tax rate, average closing costs and average closing costs as a percentage of median home value. For details on our data sources and how we put all the information together to create our final rankings, check out the Data and Methodology section below.
This is SmartAsset’s sixth annual study on the best states for homeowners.
The 2019 version can be found here.
