If you’re looking to buy a single-family home, you might want to look elsewhere.
According to a new study, in 2021, of all midsize U.S. cities, Jersey City had the smallest percentage of home purchases that were single-family.
The analysis from Inspection Support Network, a maker of “software-based tools and solutions for residential, insurance and commercial property inspections” found that 13.0% of all home purchases in Jersey City last year were single-family, compared to 75.9% nationally. Out of all 113 midsize U.S. cities in the study, Jersey City had the smallest share of home purchases that were single-family in 2021.
The study found that the median price for a single-family home in Jersey City was $546,176 and that such homes made up 20% of all owner-occupied homes. There were a total of 6,949 owner-occupied single-family homes here.
By contrast, in Newark, 49.7% of home sales were single-family. The median price was $317,467. In New York City, 23.6% of such purchases were single-family. The median price was $673,390.
Topping the list of midsized cities was Clarksville, Tennessee, where 97.1% of the homes sold in 2021 were single family.
The supply of single-family homes has shrunk during recent years, driven by the pandemic, when buyer preference shifted away from dense city living, and by low interest rates, government stimulus payments, and high savings rates.
To find the cities where people are buying the most single-family homes, researchers at Inspection Support Network analyzed the latest data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2021 American Community Survey and Redfin. The researchers ranked cities according to the share of recent home purchases that are single-family in 2021.