In order to determine which housing markets are the most and least equal in terms of home price, LendingTree has analyzed home prices in each of the top 50 metro markets to determine the GINI coefficient, a metric used to measure economic inequality, of home values in each metro market.
According to LendingTree’s findings, Detroit, Birmingham, Ala. and Indianapolis have the highest home price inequality in the nation. Detroit has a GINI coefficient of 0.446, a $431,000 95th percentile home price and a $32,000 5th percentile home price.
Salt Lake City, Portland, Ore., and Denver have the least home price inequality. Salt Lake City has a GINI coefficient of 0.210, a $597,000 95th percentile home price and a $191,000 5th percentile home price.
As we went through the analysis, we reached a conclusion that might be counterintuitive to conventional thought — housing value inequality might be a good thing. Cities with more home value inequality have a wider distribution of home values, which means that families earning lower incomes may still have the opportunity to access homeownership in these cities. The concurrent presence of high value homes suggests that their economies are vibrant enough to support higher earning jobs as well.
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