Strongest markets right now
Set to outperform
Forecast price growth per year over the next 10 years.
Effective date: October 11, 2026.
This is not investment advice. The World Housing Index ranks housing markets using public statistics so you can see where conditions look stronger or weaker. It is not a recommendation to buy, sell, rent or finance any property. It is not a forecast or appraisal of any particular home, and it is not financial, legal, tax or immigration advice.
Forecasts and scenarios are estimates. - How they're tested. Model accuracy is measured on past data and published on the Outlook page. - US forecasts: the 12-month, 5-year and 10-year US forecasts ranked markets better than chance in testing, but individual markets often moved differently. - Country scenarios: the 5- and 10-year country figures are scenarios. They assume IMF growth and UN population projections come true and were not shown to predict prices on their own.
Data can be wrong or late. Inputs come from government agencies, central banks, international organizations and private research providers. They are revised, published with lags, and sometimes contain errors. We do not guarantee accuracy or completeness.
Fair housing. Area statistics such as age profile and homeownership describe places, not people. The index does not use race, color, religion, national origin, sex, disability or familial status, and it must not be used to discriminate.
AI answers can be wrong. Ask the Index, the AI assistant, is generated by an AI model from the Site's data. It can misread figures or leave things out. Check the linked pages before you rely on it.
Neighborhood data has limits. ZIP-level figures are survey estimates with margins of error, drive times are rough estimates from straight-line distance, and the school list comes from a federal directory without ratings. Attendance zones, commutes and conditions vary street by street: visit and check with local sources.
Restricted markets. Countries where international sanctions or capital controls prevent most foreign buyers from participating, currently Russia, are shown for reference but not ranked.
Move Reports are general information. A Move Report summarizes the same public data shown on the Site for the cities you choose. It is not a personal financial plan or a guarantee of costs, pay or availability.
Links to other sites. Buttons to rentals, movers, mortgage rates or insurance take you to other companies. We don't vet or endorse them. Some may be partners that pay us a commission, which is labeled where it applies and never changes the data.
Get professional advice before making financial decisions.
Forecast price growth per year over the next 10 years.
Who's set to outperform over 1, 5 and 10 years. Model forecasts, tested on years they never saw.
A metro's score combines the scores of its ranked counties.
Every market is measured the same way within its layer, using only public data, so any score can be traced back to its inputs. There are three layers: countries, regions within a country, and US counties.
Data comes from central banks, statistics offices and public research sources: BIS, OECD, IMF and World Bank for countries, national statistics offices for regions, and 18 sources for US counties. Every source and period is listed below.
Each measure becomes 0–100 against its peers (countries against countries, UK areas against UK areas, US counties against US counties), where 50 is the average. Extreme values are trimmed, and measures where lower is better are flipped.
Measures are combined with the weights below. If a market is missing one, its weight is shared across the rest.
A market is ranked when at least 70% of its score's weight is observed (and, for US counties, 25,000+ residents).
Scored against other regions in the same country, so a 60 in the UK and a 60 in Canada are not directly comparable.
The deepest layer. Hover the bar to see each measure.
Counties are also ranked against markets of similar size.
250,000+ residents, a typical home value of $400k or more, and 500+ sales a month.
Any one of: 75,000+ residents, a typical home value of $250k or more, or 150+ sales a month.
Everything else with 25,000+ residents.
All sources are free and public, and each updates on its own schedule. Periods shown are what the current scores use.
| Source | What it measures here | Data period | Licence |
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| Source | What it measures here | Data period | Published |
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The index is a working model. These are its known limits.
The backtest covers seven years (2019-2025), including the pandemic boom and the 2022 rate shock. It shows the score ranked markets well, not that it will keep doing so.
Most counties score between 45 and 56. Treat differences of a point or two as a tie.
New building counts against a market here because it adds supply. Counting it as a growth signal instead favors Sun Belt metros.
IRS income migration reflects 2022–23 filings; Census income, rent and vacancy figures are 2020–24 averages; the 2025 American Community Survey was delayed by the Commerce Department.
The 12-month price outlook rolls Zillow's ZIP-code forecasts up to counties; HUD's FY2027 rents are administrative benchmarks. Both are inputs, not predictions by this index.
Counties under 25,000 residents are scored but not ranked, because their numbers swing more from year to year. Some measures cover fewer counties; missing measures have their weight shared across the rest.
A country score uses national averages from central banks and statistics offices. Within a country, regions can move in opposite directions; check the regional layer where one exists.
Only about 58 economies publish a reliable national house price index. Countries without one are left grey rather than guessed.
Connecticut's new planning regions don't match the county lines the listing sources use. No free, national county-level foreclosure feed exists; CFPB delinquency rates (about 500 counties) are shown for context only.
Ask about any market, city or neighborhood: jobs, rent, prices, commutes or forecasts. Every answer comes from our data, with links.
Put the index to work on your own question.
Up to four side by side. US metros and counties share one scale; countries share another.
The metros within reach of your budget, ranked by outlook.
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Where your job pays best after living costs.
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