Resources
Understand how homes actually appreciate
Market data and plain-English guides on within-market scoring and property analysis, from the team building the house-level appreciation layer for owners and lenders.
- Washington metro
- New York metro
- US
Home price change from Q1 2020 to Q2 2026, with the 30-year mortgage rate below
Free tool · Market data
Compare home prices in any two markets since the pandemic
Choose a state, metro area, county or ZIP code and chart its home prices against the US. Add a second place and the two share one chart, with the 30-year mortgage rate in a panel below.
Compare marketsStart here: cornerstone guides
Around one US price change since 2019, the middle 80% of ZIP codes spread across 42.0 points
Institutional
Residential Property Risk Assessment: The Institutional Guide
A reference for reviewing residential collateral at scale: the valuation instruments, the review streams, where property risk hides in a tape and how to test a new signal.
Twelve platforms mapped to the six jobs they do
Software reviews
Real Estate Investment Analysis Software: 12 Platforms Compared for 2026
Twelve platforms compared by the job each one does, with the best pick for sourcing, underwriting, data, valuation and portfolio work.
City vs city
Home price change since Q1 2020 in rival metros. Each page charts the pair against the US, with the 30-year mortgage rate underneath.
All posts, newest first
Both run the rental math, and Good Investment also scores the home in its market
Software reviews
BiggerPockets vs. Good Investment: What Each One Is For
BiggerPockets teaches the business and runs the deal math, while Good Investment scores the specific home within its own market, and the two work well together.
New York home prices have nearly kept pace with the US. Washington trails the US by 30.5 points.
Market data
Compare Home Prices Since 2020: Any Market Against the US
Pick any state, metro area, county or ZIP code, set a second market beside it, and see how its home prices have moved against the US since early 2020.
In this illustration, the weak tail is 16.2% of the loans and 24.9% of the balance
IllustrativeInstitutional
Candidate Pool Assessment: How to Screen a Pool Before You Bid
What a buyer can establish about a pool before the bid window closes decides how much of the negotiation it controls.
Kingston and Watertown-Fort Drum, both in New York: +120% and +43% over ten years
Institutional
Geographic Concentration Risk: Why a Diversified Map Can Lie
A portfolio spread across many metros can still hold one correlated bet, because state and metro lines were not drawn around housing markets.
South Dakota and Washington: a similar median county, and spreads of 6.5 and 2.0 points a year
Institutional
Real Estate Portfolio Valuation: Methods, Cadence, and What a Mark Misses
Two portfolios can mark at almost the same value and hold very differently positioned homes, because a roll-up of point values hides the spread beneath it.
From 2024 to 2025, the middle 80% of counties moved anywhere from −1.0% to +9.5%
Institutional
RTL Collateral Analysis: What Matters When the Exit Is a Sale
On a short-duration rehab loan the property is the repayment source, which changes which questions about it matter and when.
Two metros with the same pool share and very different local positions
IllustrativeInstitutional
What Aggregate Loan-Tape Metrics Miss in Residential Pool Review
Two pools with near-identical headline statistics can hold very different collateral, and the difference shows up in recovery.
Over ten years, metro prices grew 2.5% to 10.5% a year, scattered on both sides of their own state's pace
Market data
What Actually Drives Home Appreciation (And What Doesn't)
Supply, local jobs and incomes, land value, access and a home’s position among its peers explain most of a decade of appreciation.
Three of the four tool categories leave the growth rate to you
Investor guides
How to Choose Real Estate Investment Analysis Software (What Reviews Miss)
Sort analysis tools into four categories, then hold each one to six criteria, starting with how it handles appreciation.
Two of ten similarly priced homes come out at the front of the queue
Worked examples
Ten Homes In. Two Worth a Closer Look: A Worked Example of the Appreciation Screen
Ten similarly priced homes from one metro go through the appreciation screen and come out as an ordered queue with two homes at the front.
Nevada home prices fell 54.6% from the 2006 peak and did not regain it until 2020
Lender guides
What Is Collateral Analysis? How Lenders and Investors Assess Property Risk
Recovery depends on the property, so a collateral review has to cover where its value is heading as well as what it is worth today.
Short-term rental income follows the season, where a lease pays evenly
IllustrativeInvestor guides
Airbnb vs. Long-Term Rental: How to Compare the Two on the Same Property
Run a short-term rental and a long-term lease on the same home, with vacancy, operating costs and the exit priced in.
Separate the market's tide from the home's own edge
IllustrativeInvestor guides
How to Evaluate a Property for Appreciation: A Step-by-Step Investment Guide
Six steps for judging a property’s appreciation within its own market, with neighborhood risk and the confidence of the read in view.
Two reads of what a home is worth today, and one of where it sits in its market
IllustrativeHow it works
AVM vs. Appraisal vs. Appreciation Score: What Each One Tells You
An AVM estimates today’s value, an appraisal verifies it, and an appreciation score adds where the home ranks within its own market.
Ten-year home price growth ran from +43% in Louisiana to +160% in Idaho
Investor guides
Cash Flow versus Appreciation: Which Matters More When Buying Property?
Cash flow pays you during the hold and appreciation pays you at the exit, so here is how to weigh the two on one property.
Comp values within $14k of each other, with ranks 36 percentiles apart in their market
SampleBuyer guides
CMA vs. Investment Analysis: What Comps Can’t Tell You About Appreciation
A comparative market analysis anchors today’s price, and an appreciation analysis ranks the same home inside its market to show how it is positioned to grow.
The middle 80% of South Dakota counties grew anywhere from 6.6% to 13.1% a year
Buyer guides
How to Research a Neighborhood Before You Buy a House
A step-by-step way to read the local market that will set your home’s value, with the signals worth checking and the ones that mislead.
Over ten years, Texas metro prices grew anywhere from 4.3% to 8.6% a year
Buyer guides
Is This House a Good Investment? How to Tell If a Home Will Appreciate
Judge a home against the market it actually competes in, because a regional headline says little about how one house will appreciate.
A sample home at the 88th percentile of its own market
SampleHow it works
What Is a Property Appreciation Score? A Plain-English Guide to Within-Market Ranking
A property appreciation score ranks a home against comparable homes in its own market and flags how much evidence stands behind the rank.
Every DC ZIP code has trailed the US since 2019, by anywhere from 32.6 to 51.4 points
Market data
Why Two Homes in the Same ZIP Code Appreciate Differently
Two homes at the same price in the same ZIP code can follow very different paths, and the ZIP average cannot tell you which one you are buying.
Measured data
Home appreciation by state
All 50 states ranked by measured 1-, 5-, and 10-year pace, with no forecasts.
See the rankingsHome appreciation by county
The fastest (and slowest) U.S. counties, plus the fastest county in every state.
See the rankingsHome appreciation by metro
Every measured U.S. metro beside its own state, with a 20-year chart per metro.
See the rankingsSee it on a real address
Rank an individual property for appreciation support within its own market, with neighborhood context and a confidence flag.
Explore property appreciation analysisData sources: market figures across these posts and rankings use the Federal Housing Finance Agency's all-transactions house price index, in nominal terms. Each post lists the series it uses at the bottom of the page.