Housing Crisis Outlook: These Cities Fare Worst [New LendingTree Study]

Buying a home is rarely easy but it could soon become even more difficult, especially for buyers in the Pacific Northwest. 

To determine which cities have the worst housing crisis outlook, we analyzed vacancy rates, housing unit approvals and home value-to-income ratios across the 100 largest U.S. metros. We found that Pacific Northwest metros have the worst housing crisis outlook.

• Portland, Oregon ranks worst, largely due to its lack of available housing and unaffordability. Portland has the fourth-lowest vacancy rate (4.76%) and 13th-highest home value-to-income ratio (5.57). 
• Boise, Bridgeport, Spokane, and Salt Lake City round out the top 5 cities with the worst housing crisis outlook. 
• McAllen, Texas, Wilmington, N.C., and Winston-Salem, N.C. have the best outlooks. These metros generally have the highest housing unit approval and vacancy rates.
• Three of the five metros with the biggest increases in home value-to-income ratios are in the South. Durham, N.C. (8.60%), is highest, ahead of Charlotte, N.C. (7.20%), and Spokane, Wash. (7.17%).

You can check out the full report and city rankings here: https://www.lendingtree.com/home/mortgage/housing-crisis-outlook-study/

LendingTree's Chief Consumer Finance Analyst, Matt Schulz, had this to say:

"The vacancy rates in Portland and Boise are less than half of those in many other big metros. When that happens, prices rise, making things even more expensive. Unfortunately, this isn’t likely to change in many of the most troubled metros because the data shows that insufficient building is being done. That’s not the case in Boise, where new permits are among the highest in the nation, but it’s the case in Portland, Bridgeport and other metros with similar rankings. That doesn’t bode well for the near future.”