Analytics built by: Location, Inc.
Raw data sources: American Community Survey (U.S. Census Bureau), U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Federal Housing Finance Agency.
Methodology: NeighborhoodScout uses over 600 characteristics to build a neighborhood profile… Read more about Scout's Real Estate Data
With 211,034 people, 88,894 houses or apartments, and a median cost of homes of $223,080, house prices in Des Moines are solidly below the national average.
Single-family detached homes are the single most common housing type in Des Moines, accounting for 62.24% of the city's housing units. Other types of housing that are prevalent in Des Moines include large apartment complexes or high rise apartments ( 26.26%), duplexes, homes converted to apartments or other small apartment buildings ( 4.97%), and a few row houses and other attached homes ( 3.78%).
People in Des Moines primarily live in small (one, two or no bedroom) single-family detached homes. Des Moines has a mixture of owner-occupied and renter-occupied housing.
At the end of World War II, American soldiers returned home triumphant and, with the help of the GI Bill, built homes by the millions on the edges of America's cities. These homes were predominantly capes and ranches, modest in size, but built to house a growing middle-class as the 20th century became the American century. Des Moines's housing was primarily built during this period, from the '40s through the '60s. A full 31.99% of the city's housing hails from this era. Other housing ages represented in Des Moines include homes built before 1939 ( 28.01%) and housing constructed between 1970-1999 ( 26.83%). There's also some housing in Des Moines built between 2000 and later ( 13.17%).
Real estate appreciation rates in Des Moines's have tracked to near the national average over the last then years, with the annual appreciation rate averaging 6.30% during the period.
NeighborhoodScout's data show that during the latest twelve months, Des Moines's appreciation rate, at 6.32%, has been at or slightly above the national average. In the latest quarter, Des Moines's appreciation rate has been 1.28%, which annualizes to a rate of 5.23%.
Relative to Iowa, our data show that Des Moines's latest annual appreciation rate is lower than 60% of the other cities and towns in Iowa.
One very important thing to keep in mind is that these are average appreciation rates for the city. Individual neighborhoods within Des Moines differ in their investment potential, sometimes by a great deal. Fortunately, you can use NeighborhoodScout to pinpoint the exact neighborhoods in Des Moines - or in any city or town - that have the best track record of real estate appreciation, by the latest quarter, the last year, 2 years, 5 years, 10 years, or even since 2000, to assist you in making the best Des Moines real estate investment or home purchase decisions.
$223,080
for Iowa
for nation
88,894
$1,314 / per month