25 Places To Buy a Home This Year If You Want It To Gain Value

Given the overall costliness of American housing in the last five years, it makes sense to treat a home purchase like an investment. In order to do so, you need to know where homes are most likely to appreciate in value.

To that end, GOBankingRates recently determined the 25 cities where homes are most expected to increase in price, based on their gains in value over the last five years. GOBankingRates analyzed the largest 2,500 housing markets in America, cross-referencing such information as population density, median household income and, of course, strong increases in average home values.

From that matrix, GOBankingRates was able to determine 25 cities where you should buy a home this year if you would like it to gain in value — ranked in ascending order below.

• Average home value: $685,634
• 1-year change in home value: $61,608
• 5-year change in home value: $159,421

• Average home value: $735,700
• 1-year change in home value: $45,050
• 5-year change in home value: $363,668

• Average home value: $784,842
• 1-year change in home value: $55,814
• 5-year change in home value: $238,609

• Average home value: $768,536
• 1-year change in home value: $54,605
• 5-year change in home value: $262,980

• Average home value: $1,686,433
• 1-year change in home value: $28,827
• 5-year change in home value: $604,209

• Average home value: $1,938,500
• 1-year change in home value: $30,133
• 5-year change in home value: $615,008

• Average home value: $3,126,767
• 1-year change in home value: $19,938
• 5-year change in home value: $792,563

• Average home value: $1,003,667
• 1-year change in home value: $65,189
• 5-year change in home value: $304,114

• Average home value: $1,651,220
• 1-year change in home value: $31,665
• 5-year change in home value: $716,850

• Average home value: $1,006,718
• 1-year change in home value: $64,924
• 5-year change in home value: $332,754

• Average home value: $1,943,892
• 1-year change in home value: $28,277
• 5-year change in home value: $812,624

• Average home value: $1,684,392
• 1-year change in home value: $57,390
• 5-year change in home value: $463,260

• Average home value: $2,424,485
• 1-year change in home value: $56,958
• 5-year change in home value: $502,662

• Average home value: $2,034,337
• 1-year change in home value: $44,940
• 5-year change in home value: $665,429

• Average home value: $1,187,517
• 1-year change in home value: $68,283
• 5-year change in home value: $398,017

• Average home value: $1,848,889
• 1-year change in home value: $38,844
• 5-year change in home value: $756,842

• Average home value: $1,832,070
• 1-year change in home value: $42,878
• 5-year change in home value: $820,142

• Average home value: $3,110,628
• 1-year change in home value: $32,975
• 5-year change in home value: $983,554

• Average home value: $2,739,298
• 1-year change in home value: $89,364
• 5-year change in home value: $463,229

• Average home value: $2,891,260
• 1-year change in home value: $120,262
• 5-year change in home value: $474,071

• Average home value: $1,596,292
• 1-year change in home value: $132,894
• 5-year change in home value: $461,836

The average home value in Great Neck is about $1.6 million. In 2020, that average home value was $1,134,456; that’s a gain of 40.7%.

• Average home value: $3,948,216
• 1-year change in home value: $59,519
• 5-year change in home value: $1,356,514

• Average home value: $4,431,730
• 1-year change in home value: $79,468
• 5-year change in home value: $1,261,200

You can expect that the average home value of Los Altos will keep growing; they’ve steadily risen by about 40% in the last half-decade.

• Average home value: $2,464,162
• 1-year change in home value: $125,359
• 5-year change in home value: $937,687

• Average home value: $4,067,554
• 1-year change in home value: $128,750
• 5-year change in home value: $1,695,723

Editor’s note: Photos are for representational purposes only and might not reflect the exact locations listed.

Methodology: GOBankingRates identified the 2,500 largest housing markets, according to Zillow Home Value Index. The average home value was sourced from September of 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025. Any places without data or with a total population below 1,000 were removed for this study. The one-year and five-year change in home values was calculated for each location. Places with a higher one-year change and five-year change than the national average were kept and the changes were scored and summed, with the lowest score being first. All data was collected on Oct. 27, 2025.