Homes in walkable Tampa neighborhoods are seeing a larger price increase than those in areas dependent on cars, according to a new report.
Seattle-based Redfin recently looked at the difference in home prices between walkable neighborhoods, where some or most errands can be accomplished on foot, and car-dependent neighborhoods, where most errands require a car.
Tampa ranked among the cities where walkable neighborhoods had the largest median home price increase between October 2019 and October 2020. A Tampa house in a walkable neighborhood had a 19 percent year-over-year increase in median home price, the sixth highest on the report. In comparison, median home prices were up 14 percent year-over-year.
Other cities where walkable neighborhoods outpaced car-dependent neighborhoods include Detroit; Kansas City, Missouri and San Jose, California. Miami ranked among the top cities where car-dependent neighborhoods outgrew walkable ones. Car-dependent neighborhoods in Miami had 15.6 percent median home price growth compared to 8.2 percent for walkable cities.
Nationally, the median home price for car-dependent neighborhoods rose 14.9 percent year-over-year, while prices in walkable neighborhoods increased 11.3 percent. That growth is a positive sign for the housing market as prices in both types of neighborhood were down year-over-year in May, Redfin found.
“While I expect proximity to retail and restaurants to be higher on buyers’ priority lists once the pandemic has passed, the landscape of walkability may be forever changed,” Redfin chief economist Daryl Fairweather said in a release. “New businesses may open in previously unwalkable areas, given increased demand for neighborhood restaurants and coffee shops from residents who moved in during the pandemic. That would make suburban and rural places permanently more attractive to buyers seeking walkability.”
Redfin’s report is based on its Walk Score report, which measures the walkability of addresses. For the report, the somewhat walkable, very walkable and walker’s paradise categories were counted as walkable. The other two categories were considered car-dependent.
The full report can be found here.