Here are the Neighborhoods That Appeal the Most to Homebuyers
Northeast Dallas was the most-sought neighborhood with 36,113 views.
Homebuyers are not just choosy about the house they want to buy. They are as choosy about the neighborhood they want to live in as their budgets and interests will allow.
A study of Zillow data by HouseFresh, a London, England indoor air quality company that conducts product tests, examined homebuyers’ desired neighborhoods to determine which were most and least preferred in America’s 100 most populous cities. It analyzed Zillow home listings, identifying each neighborhood, how many days the home was listed, and the number of page views. It calculated the number of page views per day for each listing and then averaged the number of daily views across each neighborhood.
Nationally, Northeast Dallas in fast-growing Texas emerged as America’s most-sought neighborhood, the study claimed, with 36,113 views. “Relatively affordable areas stand shoulder to shoulder with more expensive, glamorous neighborhoods,” it commented. The average home here costs $465,173.
Other neighborhoods in Texas and other Western states like Arizona, Nevada, and Nebraska also ranked highest in page views. High numbers of prospective purchasers also investigated neighborhoods in Hollywood Hills and LA Jolla, CA, the Upper East Side of New York City, Lake View in Chicago, and Brickell, FL.
”With homes averaging $1.43 million (albeit with a relatively low 6.2% annual rise), it seems safe to assume that many of the 24,125 daily clicks on Manhattan’s Upper East Side properties are aspirational,” HouseFresh comments. That may be true of some of the other neighborhoods that received the highest number of clicks. Other New York City neighborhoods that attracted many views were the Upper West Side, Chelsea, Forest Hills and Flushing. The least attractive neighborhood was Fordham in the Bronx, which the study describes as a high-crime area.
Other desirable areas of Chicago were Gold Coast, Streeterville, and Lincoln Park. West Lawn and Chicago Lawn ranked lowest.
In Houston, Greater Heights and Greater Uptown led the way, while Pecan Park and Kashmere Gardens brought up the rear.
Even though Zillow counted 10.2 billion visits to its house listing site in 2021, “there is a lot more ‘looking’ than ‘doing’ right now,” HomeFresh noted. “Sales of existing homes dropped by 19% between August 2021-22, while monthly mortgage payments rose by up to 59%.”