The 30-year fixed mortgage rate averaged 7.40% this week (Freddie Mac, 2026-10-08), +0.12 pts on the week and +1.10 pts on the year. The payment on a typical US home is $2,184 a month. Across the US, homes for sale are +2.4% vs last year, pending sales −8.0%, and 21.4% of listings have had a price cut (4 weeks ending September 27, 2026, Redfin).
Most homes with price cuts (% of listings): Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO 30.6, Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood, IN 30.1, Salt Lake City-Murray, UT 28.7, Boise City, ID 28.4, Dayton-Kettering-Beavercreek, OH 27.7
Price cuts rising fastest (pts vs last year): Omaha, NE-IA 6.1, Boise City, ID 6.0, Baton Rouge, LA 5.7, Augusta-Richmond County, GA-SC 4.7, Tulsa, OK 4.4
Inventory building fastest (% more listings vs last year): Chattanooga, TN-GA 21.5, Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA 21.2, San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA 19.6, Worcester, MA 18.2, Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY 17.6
Selling fastest (% off market within 2 weeks): Rochester, NY 64.0, Lancaster, PA 56.5, Syracuse, NY 52.9, Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH 48.3, Akron, OH 47.9
Pending sales up most (% vs last year): Port St. Lucie, FL 6.4, Memphis, TN-MS-AR 4.0, Grand Rapids-Wyoming-Kentwood, MI 3.7, Modesto, CA 2.9, Scranton--Wilkes-Barre, PA 2.7
Pending sales down most (% vs last year): Huntsville, AL -37.9, Urban Honolulu, HI -37.6, Omaha, NE-IA -25.0, Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA -21.5, Baton Rouge, LA -20.5
Who's set to outperform over 1, 5 and 10 years. Model forecasts, tested on years they never saw.
Countries
LowerHigher
No forecast
Rising fastest
Slowest
US metro areas
Up and coming
Likely to lag
US counties
How accurate are these forecasts?
Forecasts, not promises. These are statistical estimates from public data. Ranges show where about 80% of past outcomes fell around the model's estimate, and ten-year paths can be knocked off course by rates, policy, disasters or recessions the data cannot see. Not investment advice.
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Lower scoreHigher score
Not ranked (under 25,000 residents)
Metro rankings
A metro's score combines the scores of its ranked counties.
How a score is built
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.
Collect
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.
Put on one scale
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.
Weight and add
Measures are combined with the weights below. If a market is missing one, its weight is shared across the rest.
Rank
A market is ranked when at least 70% of its score's weight is observed (and, for US counties, 25,000+ residents).
Countries
Does the country score predict prices?
Top third of countries by scoreBottom thirdReal (inflation-adjusted) house price change over the next year
Regions within a country
Scored against other regions in the same country, so a 60 in the UK and a 60 in Canada are not directly comparable.
US counties: weights
The deepest layer. Hover the bar to see each measure.
Market sizes
Counties are also ranked against markets of similar size.
Major
250,000+ residents, a typical home value of $400k or more, and 500+ sales a month.
Mid-size
Any one of: 75,000+ residents, a typical home value of $250k or more, or 150+ sales a month.
Small
Everything else with 25,000+ residents.
Where the data comes from
All sources are free and public, and each updates on its own schedule. Periods shown are what the current scores use.
Countries and regions
Source
What it measures here
Data period
Licence
US counties
Source
What it measures here
Data period
Published
Does the US county score predict prices?
Top fifth of counties by scoreBottom fifthHome value change over the next 12 months
Read this before relying on a ranking
The index is a working model. These are its known limits.
Not investment advice. The World Housing Index ranks housing markets on public statistics to show where conditions look stronger or weaker. It is not a recommendation to buy, sell or rent any property, and it is not a forecast of any particular home's value. Data can be revised, late or wrong. Check primary sources and get professional advice before making financial decisions.
Past results aren't a promise
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.
Small gaps aren't meaningful
Most counties score between 45 and 56. Treat differences of a point or two as a tie.
Method choices move rankings
New building counts against a market here because it adds supply. Counting it as a growth signal instead favors Sun Belt metros.
Some inputs lag
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.
Forecasts are models
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.
Small counties aren't ranked
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.
Countries aren't counties
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.
Half the world has no data
Only about 58 economies publish a reliable national house price index. Countries without one are left grey rather than guessed.
Connecticut and foreclosures are missing
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.
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