Connecticut Housing Markets Among Most Competitive In U.S.: Study

Connecticut is home to some of the most competitive housing markets in the U.S. According to a study released by LendingTree, three Connecticut cities rank among the top 75 most competitive in the country with one community ranking as high as No. 25.

LendingTree’s rankings of the 100 most competitive housing markets in the U.S. were based on factors that “truly create a competitive market for homebuyers,” the company explained. To compile the rankings, LendingTree looked at factors like how many house hunters are putting more money down, have high credit scores and “start loan shopping before home shopping.”

To come up with the rankings, LendingTree said it looked at 1.5 million purchase mortgage loan requests that came through the company’s marketplace in the 100 largest U.S. cities for 2017.

The cities were then ranked based on the following three criteria:

• The share of buyers shopping for a mortgage before identifying the house they want
• Average down payment percentage
• Percentage of buyers who have prime credit (above 680)

The Connecticut cities with the most competitive housing markets are:

• Stamford (25)
• Hartford (50)
• New Haven (66)

Stamford ranked No. 6 overall for the highest average down payment, while Hartford was No. 36 and New Haven was at No. 44. Stamford also ranked fourth-highest overall in percentage of buyers with credit scores above 680 at 57 percent. More than half of Hartford’s shoppers have prime credit and New Haven buyers checked in at 45 percent with credit scores above 680.

Here are the top 10 most competitive housing markets in the country:

San Francisco, California (1)

San Jose, California (2)

Denver, Colorado (3)

San Diego, California (4)

Ventura, California (5)

Los Angeles, California (6)

Seattle, Washington (7)

Honolulu, Hawaii (8)

Portland, Oregon (9)

Sacramento, California (10)

Here are the least competitive or most accessible housing markets in the U.S.:

Youngstown, Ohio (100)

McAllen, Texas (99)

Scranton, Pennsylvania (98)

El Paso, Texas (97)

Dayton, Ohio (96)

Augusta, Georgia (95)

Birmingham, Alabama (94)

Winston-Salem, North Carolina (93)

Little Rock, Arkansas (92)

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania (91)

By Feroze Dhanoa, Patch National Staff
Image via Shutterstock