West Michigan home to healthiest housing markets in state
A recent study from SmartAsset ranked the healthiest housing markets in Michigan, and five West Michigan communities were in the top 10.
According to SmartAsset’s healthy housing markets map, Jenison was the No. 1 housing market in the state with a healthiest markets index of 86.10.
The average homeowner in Jenison lives in the same home for 13.9 years, according to the study. Additionally, 4.5% of Jenison homes have negative equity and 13.3% of homes are decreasing in value. The average home in Jenison spends 41.2 days on the market and homeowners spend 17% of their household income on owning a home.
Comparatively, Grand Ledge at No. 10 on the list had a healthy market index of 72.19. Homeowners spend an average of 10.7 years in the same home, 7.9% of homes in the area have negative equity and 13.3% of homes decrease in value. A home in Grand Ledge spends an average of 85.7 days on the market, and homeowners spend 17.3% of their household income on owning a home.
Top 10 healthiest housing markets in Michigan
- Jenison
- Wyoming
- Walker
- Charlotte
- Kentwood
- Ypsilanti
- Northview
- Tecumseh
- Okemos
- Grand Ledge
Methodology
In order to find the healthiest housing markets in the country, SmartAsset considered the following four factors: stability, affordability, fluidity and risk of loss.
SmartAsset measured stability based on the number of years people remain in their homes and the percentage of homeowners with negative equity.
Risk is based on the percentage of homes that decreased in value. Housing market fluidity was determined by the average time a “for-sale” home in each area spent on the market — the longer homes take to sell, the less fluid the market. Affordability was calculated by determining the monthly cost of owning a home as a percentage of household income in each city.
Affordability accounted for 40% of the healthiest markets index, while each of the other three factors accounted for 20%. When data on the above four factors was unavailable for certain cities, the study excluded said cities from its final rankings of healthiest markets.