Ames appreciation rates and housing market information

Ames housing market information

With 50,656 people, 18,709 houses or apartments, and a median cost of homes of $191,740, Ames real estate is some of the most expensive in Iowa, although Ames home values aren't among America's most expensive.

single-family detached homes are the single most common housing type in Ames, accounting for 43.03% of the city's housing units. Other types of housing that are prevalent in Ames include large apartment complexes or high rise apartments (32.55%), duplexes, homes converted to apartments, or other small apartment buildings (13.57%), row houses and other attached homes (6.49%), and a few mobile homes or trailers (4.37%).

People in Ames primarily live in small (one, two, or no bedroom) single-family detached homes. Ames has a mixture of owner-occupied and renter-occupied housing.

There is a lot of housing in Ames built from 1970-1994, so parts of town may have that "Brady Bunch" look of homes popular in the '70s and early '80s, although some of these houses were built up through the early '90s as well. There is also a lot of housing in Ames built from 1940-1969 (31.97%). A lesser amount of the housing stock also hails from 1995 and later (14.58%), and some were built from 1939 and earlier (14.58%).

Ames home appreciation rates

Ames's appreciation rate notably has been below the national average for the last ten years. The average annual home appreciation rate in Ames during the period has been just 5.23%, which is lower than % of US communities.

NeighborhoodScout's data show that during the latest twelve months, Ames home appreciation rates, at 1.62%, have been at or slightly above the national average. In the latest quarter, Ames's appreciation rate has been 1.73%, which annualizes to a rate of 6.92%.

Importantly, this makes Ames one of the highest appreciating communities in the nation for the latest quarter, and may signal the city's near-future real estate investment strength.

Relative to Iowa, our data show that Ames's latest annual appreciation rate is higher than 17% 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 Ames differ in their investment potential, sometimes by a great deal. Fortunately, you can use NeighborhoodScout to pinpoint the exact neighborhoods in Ames - 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 1990, to assist you in making the best Ames real estate investment or home purchase decisions.