GRAND RAPIDS, MI - A national survey of housing markets has ranked Grand Rapids as the third healthiest "big city" housing market in the United States.
The study by SmartAsset.com, a financial services company, measures housing market health by the average number of years residents spend in homes, home values, ease of sale, and the costs associated with ownership.
Grand Rapids won its ranking mainly because of its low scores for "the "average days on the market" and the region's relative low cost of housing compared to household income.
The average house in Grand Rapids costs about 20.5 percent of the average household income compared to the national average of23.3 percent. That affordability ranking accounted for 40 percent of the score while remaining factors each counted for 20 percent.
The average house is on the market for just 23.9 days in Grand Rapids compared to a national average of 60.1 days. About 5.9 percent of the homes in Grand Rapids are losing market value compared to 9.7 percent nationally, according to SmartAsset.com.
Grand Rapidians live in their homes an average of 12.8 years compared to the national average of 12.4 year. On average, 7.4 percent of the homes carry more debt than their market valued compared to the national average of 12.5 percent.
Plano, Texas and Arlington, Texas, scored higher than Grand Rapids, the only Michigan city that appeared in the rankings of the nation's 100 largest cities.
Earlier this year, the West Michigan suburbs of Jenison and Forest Hills were ranked 5th and 7th in a similar national study that included suburban communities. The Oakland County suburb of Clawson was ranked 10th in the study.
