4 CT Cities Among Worst Real Estate Markets In U.S., New Study Says

It's no secret Connecticut has many enticing features that make it a desirable place to call home. With its seasonal New England weather and deep sense of history among other things, there are a number of reasons one might wan to settle down in the nutmeg state.

Yet it seems certain areas of Connecticut may not be the best place to live as far as housing is concerned, as a recent study says four local communities are among the worst real estate markets in the country. (For more information on this and other neighborhood stories, subscribe to Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts.)

Conducted by WalletHub, their study ranks the real estate markets of 300 cities across the country from best to worst. This data was also broken down into various subcategories, such as cities with the most unsold homes by banks and communities with highest and lowest percent of delinquent mortgage holders.

Texas easily topped this list, as four of the top five best real estate markets (Frisco, McKinney, Allen and Richardson) were located in the lone star state.

According to the same data, the Connecticut communities of New Haven, Waterbury, Hartford and Bridgeport occupy four of the ten bottom spots on the list. They rank at numbers 291, 293, 295 and 296 out of 300 respectively.

Meanwhile Stamford, the only other Connecticut city on the list, did not fare much better, ranking at position 243 on the list.

The full list can be viewed at WalletHub.

How Can This Be?

According to WalletHub, the data was determined by comparing 300 cities across two key dimensions: “Real-Estate Market” and “Affordability & Economic Environment.”

Those dimensions were then evaluated using 21 relevant metrics, such as home value forecast, median home-price appreciation and average number of days until a house is sold.

Each metric was then graded on a 100-point scale. A score of 100 represented the healthiest housing market.

The data used to create this ranking was collected from a number of sources, including:

• The U.S. Census Bureau
• Bureau of Labor Statistics
• Council for Community and Economic Research
• Chmura Economics & Analytics
• Renwood RealtyTrac
• TransUnion
• Zillow

Further Connecticut Data

According to the Real Estate Market Rank portion of the list, the four Connecticut cities in question still rank fairly low. Hartford fared best in this category at a less-than-remarkable 288, while New Haven ranks right behind it at 289. Waterbury and Bridgeport follow close by at 293 and 294 respectively.

Things do get a bit more interesting when the cities' Affordability & Economic Environment rankings are taken into account, as Waterbury fares much better at 266. New Haven also fares better at 273, with Bridgeport not far behind at 278.

Hartford still ranks towards the bottom at 297.

The study also breaks down the data into other rankings, including the five cities with the highest and lowest percentages of homes with negative equity. Bridgeport, Waterbury and Hartford rank at 274, 276 and 278 respectively in this category.

According to the data, Waterbury also ranks as the fourth lowest home median appreciation and Hartford is tied with Baltimore for the highest foreclosure rate.

Bridgeport meanwhile is tied with five other cities for the highest percent of delinquent mortgage holders.

View the full study and see where other cities across the country rank at WalletHub.

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