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 17,226 people, 7,211 houses or apartments, and a median cost of homes of $507,159, Portsmouth house prices are not only among the most expensive in Rhode Island, Portsmouth real estate also is some of the most expensive in all of America.
Single-family detached homes are the single most common housing type in Portsmouth, accounting for 75.95% of the town's housing units. Other types of housing that are prevalent in Portsmouth include large apartment complexes or high rise apartments ( 7.70%), row houses and other attached homes ( 6.67%), and a few duplexes, homes converted to apartments or other small apartment buildings ( 6.26%).
Owner-occupied, three and four bedroom dwellings, primarily in single-family detached homes are the most prevalent type of housing you will see in Portsmouth. Owner-occupied housing accounts for 75.96% of Portsmouth's homes, and 55.94% have either three or four bedrooms, which is average sized relative to America.
There is a lot of housing in Portsmouth built from 1970 to 1999 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 Portsmouth built between 1940-1969 ( 27.84%). A lesser amount of the housing stock also hails from between 2000 and later ( 16.45%). There's also some housing in Portsmouth built before 1939 ( 16.31%).
Vacant housing appears to be an issue in Portsmouth. Fully 16.78% of the housing stock is classified as vacant. Left unchecked, vacant Portsmouth homes and apartments can be a drag on the real estate market, holding Portsmouth 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.
Appreciation rates for homes in Portsmouth have been tracking above average for the last ten years, according to NeighborhoodScout data. The cumulative appreciation rate over the ten years has been 43.03%, which ranks in the top 50% nationwide. This equates to an annual average Portsmouth house appreciation rate of 3.64%.
Appreciation rates are so strong in Portsmouth that despite a nationwide downturn in the housing market, Portsmouth real estate has continued to appreciate in value faster than most communities. Looking at just the latest twelve months, Portsmouth appreciation rates continue to be some of the highest in America, at 10.86%, which is higher than appreciation rates in 74.93% of the cities and towns in the nation. Based on the last twelve months, short-term real estate investors have found good fortune in Portsmouth. Portsmouth appreciation rates in the latest quarter were at 4.04%, which equates to an annual appreciation rate of 17.18%.
Importantly, this makes Portsmouth one of the highest appreciating communities in the nation for the latest quarter, and may signal the town's near-future real estate investment strength.
Relative to Rhode Island, our data show that Portsmouth's latest annual appreciation rate is lower than 70% of the other cities and towns in Rhode Island.
Very High for Nation
Very High for RI