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15 Affordable, Promising Cities To Buy Real Estate in 2024
Written by
Heather Taylor
Edited by
Levi Leidy

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Don’t fret if this wasn’t your year to buy a home. Rocket Homes compiled a list of 15 cities with great potential for mortgage rates and affordable real estate, that buyers should have on their radar in 2024.Â
To find and rank the most promising cities of 2024, Rocket Homes and Best Places analyzed 383 metros home to over 85% of all U.S. residents. Thirteen key metrics, including one-year home appreciation and net migration in 2022, determined which cities will surge ahead and allow their inhabitants to thrive.
While past years of these rankings included markets from Western states, the 2024 ranking does not have any cities from the West Coast on it.
Let’s see which 15 cities in 2014 are among the most promising to buy real estate.
1. Ames, Iowa
- Population: 97,117
- Net migration in 2022: 0.54%
- One-year home appreciation: 7.8%
2. Burlington, Vermont
- Population: 220,411
- Net migration in 2022: 0.73%
- One-year home appreciation: 5.2%
3. Portland, Maine
- Population: 538,500
- Net migration in 2022: 2.17%
- One-year home appreciation: 2.8%
4. Ithaca, New York
- Population: 102,180
- Net migration in 2022: 0.40%
- One-year home appreciation: 2.3%
5. Iowa City, Iowa
- Population: 173,105
- Net migration in 2022: 0.97%
- One-year home appreciation: 9.5%
6. Appleton, Wisconsin
- Population: 237,974
- Net migration in 2022: 0.29%
- One-year home appreciation: 4.3%
7. Charlottesville, Virginia
- Population: 235,763
- Net migration in 2022: 1.03%
- One-year home appreciation: 2.6%
8. Bangor, Maine
- Population: 152,148
- Net migration in 2022: 1.94%
- One-year home appreciation: 6.1%
9. State College, Pennsylvania
- Population: 162,385
- Net migration in 2022: 0.29%
- One-year home appreciation: 5.1%
10. Richmond, Virginia
- Population: 1,315,600
- Net migration in 2022: 1.68%
- One-year home appreciation: 5.7%
11. Atlantic City, New Jersey
- Population: 263,670
- Net migration in 2022: 0.80%
- One-year home appreciation: 6.1%
12. Albany, New York
- Population: 880,381
- Net migration in 2022: 0.67%
- One-year home appreciation: 5.3%
13. College Station, Texas
- Population: 264,728
- Net migration in 2022: 2.44%
- One-year home appreciation: 4.6%
14. Norwich, Connecticut
- Population: 265,206
- Net migration in 2022: 0.32%
- One-year home appreciation: 4.5%
15. Winchester, Virginia
- Population: 140,566
- Net migration in 2022: 2.70%
- One-year home appreciation: 1.3%
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