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 1,496 people, 599 houses or apartments, and a median cost of homes of $81,452, house prices in Salem are some of the most affordable in West Virginia as well as the nation.
Single-family detached homes are the single most common housing type in Salem, accounting for 71.77% of the city's housing units. Other types of housing that are prevalent in Salem include large apartment complexes or high rise apartments ( 18.73%), mobile homes or trailers ( 7.12%), and a few duplexes, homes converted to apartments or other small apartment buildings ( 2.24%).
People in Salem primarily live in small (one, two or no bedroom) single-family detached homes. Salem has a mixture of owner-occupied and renter-occupied housing.
The housing in Salem was primarily built before 1939 ( 47.76%), making the housing stock in Salem some of the oldest overall in America, although there is a range of ages of homes in Salem. The next most important housing age is between 1970-1999 ( 30.61%), followed by between 1940-1969 ( 20.58%). There's also some housing in Salem built between 2000 and later ( 1.06%).
Vacant housing appears to be an issue in Salem. Fully 20.98% of the housing stock is classified as vacant. Left unchecked, vacant Salem homes and apartments can be a drag on the real estate market, holding Salem real estate prices below levels they could achieve if vacant housing was absorbed into the market and became occupied. Housing vacancy rates are a useful measure to consider, along with other things, if you are a home buyer or a real estate investor.
Some of the lowest real estate appreciation rates in America over the last ten years have been in Salem, where house values have increased just 30.88%, which is annualized rate of 2.73%. This rate is lower than the appreciation rate found in 90% of the cities and towns in America.
NeighborhoodScout's data show that during the latest twelve months, Salem's appreciation rate, at 6.04%, has been at or slightly above the national average. In the latest quarter, Salem's appreciation rate has been 4.64%, which annualizes to a rate of 19.91%.
Importantly, this makes Salem 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 West Virginia, our data show that Salem's latest annual appreciation rate is higher than 80% of the other cities and towns in West Virginia.
$81,452
for West virginia
for nation
599
$1,109 / per month