The surprising cities where average home is set to cost $1m by 2033
A recent study has shown that a number of cities have a housing market that will skyrocket by 2033.
All cities are expected to see average prices rise above $1 million soon – mainly due to where they are located.
Stockton, for example, is two hours inland from San Francisco. The no-nonsense city ranked fifth in the sample.
A slight lead was held by cities like Colorado Springs, Colorado, which currently has an average sales price of just under half a million. The analysis from Realtor.com predicts the price will double within a decade, despite the city being just an hour south of Denver.
Speaking of Denver, the still-affordable city ranks sixth on the website’s list, with an average listing of $547,966 that is expected to more than double by 2033 — to $1,296,676, Realtor.com found.
The site tracked home prices in the 100 largest U.S. metros between 2014 and 2019, which specialists admitted included “anomalies like the recession and the pandemic.”
Rounding out the top ten were cities like Sacramento, Boston, Honolulu, and Seattle, showing just how far along those expected to hit the million dollar mark actually were.
The list represents all but one corner of the continental US and was capped by three cities in the Western US, none of which are in California.
In the photo the skyline of the city of Boise. The Western Idaho metro ranks first in Realtor.com’s recent list of cities that will become a multimillion-dollar market in the next decade
Pictured Salt Lake City, Utah – second on Realtor.com’s list. The site tracked the prices of the 100 largest US metro areas between 2014 and 2019 to arrive at their conclusions
The first can be found hidden in the northwest wilderness, in the form of Boise, Idaho.
Thanks to a collection of mountains, trees and trails, tourism officials consider it a place that is both “urban and wild.”
Also painted as a “city you’d want to have a beer with,” Boise today has an average sales price of $464,578.
Realtor.com predicts that price tags for the same homes could exceed $1.1 million by 2033 – a rise fueled by the highest five-year yields seen in the industry between 2014 and 2019.
Based on that percentage (58.2 percent), the company further concluded that Boise’s average home price would be $735,026 in 2028, after a full five years.
Give it another five and the number would be $1.16 million, wrote Realtor.com economist Hannah Jones, at one point discussing how the city will succeed in becoming the million-dollar club.
“Several hot markets like Boise have seen substantial price growth in recent years as buyer demand put pressure on inventories, leading to rising prices and competition,” she explains.
“If these trends continue, prices could exceed $1 million in the next decade in some markets that are currently relatively affordable.”
“Several hot markets like Boise have seen substantial price growth in recent years as buyer demand put pressure on inventories, leading to rising prices,” explains Realtor.com economist Hannah Jones. “If these trends continue, prices could exceed $1 million.”
Such demand will soon see the city – and other affordable cities like second-place Salt Lake City (skyline here) – have an average price roughly around the rate seen in San Francisco.
Such demand will soon see the city – and other affordable cities that grace the list – have an average price around the rate currently seen in San Francisco.
According to Realtor.com, the city had a median home price of about $1.2 million as of October. That’s nearly the highest in the country, eclipsed only by fellow Bay Area beehive San Jose ($1.3 million).
The second spot in Salt Lake City – found in northern Utah – is expected to see similar price tags within the next decade, according to Realtor.com, which puts the exact number at $1.06 million.
That’s up from its 2023 retail price of $493,414, slightly more than Boise’s.
Third-place Portland, an isolated stronghold not far from Seattle, a three-hour drive south, posted similar figures, with its $501,000 price tag expected to more than double again by 2033 to $1,051,838.
Likewise, Colorado Springs – one of four Mountain West cities joining Denver, Boise and Salt Lake City in the top 10 – will see its current retail price of $454,673 rise to $1,019,929 within the next decade, said the broker. study.
Today, Stockton – “a great location between the metro areas of San Francisco and Sacramento,” as real estate consultant Nicole Brown put it – still has an average listing price of just $579,292.
In third place is Portland – an isolated stronghold not far from Seattle, a three-hour drive south – with similar figures, with its $501,000 price tag expected to more than double again by 2033 to $1,051,838.
Likewise, Colorado Springs — one of four Mountain West cities to make the top 10 — will see its current sales price of $454,673 rise to $1,019,929 within the next decade, according to the study.
Today, Stockton – “a great location between the metro areas of San Francisco and Sacramento,” as real estate consultant Nicole Brown put it – still has an average listing price of just $579,292. This number is predicted to rise to $1,446,731 by 2033
This number is predicted to rise to $1,446,731 by 2033, thanks in part to its convenient location between the vibrant cities of the Bay Area and California’s capital.
“People can commute to both metros for work,” Brown explained, with nearby sister cities Denver and Sacramento taking the next two spots.
Further down the final five were Boston, Honolulu and Seattle, all of which have slightly more expensive average price tags, well into the $600,000s.
In 2033, Boston – the only northeastern city on the list – will just reach the million-dollar mark, while Honolulu and Seattle, with projected average listing prices of $1,143,830 and $1,485,885 respectively, will easily exceed it.
The forecasts, experts warned, are at the mercy of invisible factors such as the pandemic, which could cause the market to change abruptly.
As experts previously noted, the Great Recession also saw a dramatic change in home prices, with the average price at the time fluctuating from about $201,000 in 2008 to $167,000 the following year.
In the fourth quarter of 2023, the average price of existing homes in the US was approximately $387,000, which is expected to rise to approximately $400,000 by 2025.