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State by State

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State by State

We're nearing the end of one of the worst years ever for U.S. real estate, and, with the economy deteriorating by the day, there's reason to believe 2009 could be at least as bad. But not every town has suffered to the same degree. There are relatively good performers and bad performers in every state. Even in battered California, the wealthy Silicon Valley community of Palo Alto saw modest appreciation of about 4% in 2008. Plenty of other states also saw pockets of positive growth, but the overall trend was negative—although in some places, such as Arizona's healthiest market, Sierra Vista, the declines were only in the single digits.

Editor's Note: Cities were ranked based on the 2008 home value change—the average of the year-over-year change in each of the first three quarters of the year. Only towns and cities with populations of more than 25,000 people were included. The ranking is based on Zillow.com's Home Value Index, which is the median "Zestimate" for a given geography for a given time period. The Zestimate™ is Zillow's estimated market value of a home. This figure is computed by taking many different data points from public records and entering them in a proprietary formula.

Source: Zillow.com