ATTOM Data Solutions recently released its third-quarter 2020 special report analyzing qualified Opportunity Zones established by Congress in the Tax Cuts and Jobs act of 2017. ATTOM looked at 1,737 zones that had at least five home sales in the third quarter of 2020.
Median home prices increased from the third quarter of 2019 to the third quarter of 2020 in 74 percent of the zones and increased by more than 10 percent in slightly more than half the zones.
The increases show housing markets in Opportunity Zones continued improving in the third quarter, even amid the COVID spread. The impact generally hit hardest in lower-income communities that include most of the zones targeted for tax breaks designed to spur redevelopment.
Price gains in Opportunity Zones fell below the pace of improvements in broader metro statistical areas throughout the country: every metro area with enough data to analyze in the third quarter of 2020 showed YoY median price increases, while three quarters of those areas saw prices jump more than 10 percent.
In addition, 76 percent of the Opportunity Zones analyzed had median home prices that were less than the national median of $283,813—about the same percentage that were below the national figure in the second quarter. About 36 percent of the zones still had median prices of less than $150,000, also about the same as in the previous quarter.
“Home prices in Opportunity Zones around the country continued rising in the third quarter of 2020, riding the wave of a nationwide boom that has defied the economic damage from the widespread coronavirus pandemic. The increases point toward signs that some of the country’s most distressed communities have great potential for revival,” said Todd Teta, chief product officer with ATTOM Data Solutions. “At that same time, though, prices remain depressed in Opportunity Zones, and a notable number actually dropped in the third quarter—a potentially very troubling indicator. Those dueling trends will be important to watch over the coming months amid a highly uncertain economic outlook.”
To read the entire report, click here.
