A Buying Guide for American Cities

Redfin CEO Glenn Kelman released a new guide for homebuyers trying to decide where to live next. Each city was chosen based on walkability, price, diversity, and local commentary.

Detroit had the lowest median home price in the guide at $117,000, while Seattle's was the highest, $600,000. Seattle's most walkable neighborhoods were Downtown Seattle (98), First Hill (97), Yesler Terrace (94), Capitol Hill (92), Columbia City (84), and Madrona (78). Indeed, 21 percent of Seattle's neighborhoods had walkability scores over 70, per Redfin. Detroit's most walkable neighborhoods were Midtown (87), Downtown (74), Royal Oak (55), and 12.7 percent of neighborhoods scored over 70 points in the walkability metric.

This migration of people and businesses from expensive, high-tax cities to affordable-housing markets began a few years ago, when housing prices first began to rise much faster than wages. In 2018 and 2019, many businesses are going to start searching for lower-cost campuses to complement their presence in more expensive areas. We see this long-term shift to America’s emerging places as the U.S.’s most important demographic trend since the post-war suburban boom.

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