Highland Park Housing Prices Fell Last Year

HIGHLAND PARK — Highland Park has a "very high" environmental hazard risk, and the median sales price of its homes is declining, according to a new report from ATTOM Data Solutions. The report found Highland Park bucking a national trend where home prices in ZIP codes the highest 20 percent for environmental hazard risk grew faster than the market overall.

Median home prices in ZIP codes with a very high environmental hazard risk index grew faster than the overall market over the past year (7.4 percent), the past five years (57.1 percent) and the past 10 years (22.2 percent), according to the report. In the market overall, median home prices appreciated 7.1 percent over the past year, 51.1 percent over the past five years and 12.3 percent over the past 10 years.

ATTOM Data analyzed over 8,000 ZIP codes that had sufficient housing trend data for risk related to four environmental hazards: superfund sites, brownfields, polluters and poor air quality. A risk index was calculated for each hazard and a combined index was then calculated based on the four factors. The highest environmental risk index for a ZIP code in the country was 497.

Highland Park's 60035 ZIP code was rated in the top 20 percent for overall environmental hazards. It was assigned a risk index score of 113. The report also found the median sales price declined by 7 percent last year to $450,000.

While the median housing price have declined by 22 percent in the past decade, the average market value remains above the nation overall at $552,466, and the number of home sales in 2017 increased to 590 from 527 the prior year.

Homes in ZIP codes with higher environmental hazard risk also had the lowest foreclosure rate, with the exception being ZIP codes that had the highest risk index for superfunds. The foreclosure rate for ZIP codes in the highest risk category for superfunds was more than 1.5 times that of the overall market rate.

However, Highland Park's 0.5 percent foreclosure rate exceeds the national average of 0.4 percent.

In the market overall, a total of 12.6 million single family homes and condos with a combined market value of $3.4 trillion were in ZIP codes in the top 20 percent for environmental hazard risk. The average market value of homes in these ZIP codes was $268,585 compared to an average market value of $329,217 in the market overall.

According to ATTOM, the top 10 ZIP codes for overall environmental hazard housing risk are:

• Denver (80216)
• San Bernardino, California (92408)
• Sheridan, Oregon (97378)
• Saint Louis (63133)
• Haw River, North Carolina (27258)
• Riverside, California (92501)
• Santa Fe, California (90670)
• Tulsa, Oklahoma (74108)
• Tulsa, Oklahoma (74119)
• Houston (77042)

See the full report from ATTOM here

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