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 143,984 people, 52,256 houses or apartments, and a median cost of homes of $204,463, house prices in Waco are solidly below the national average.
Single-family detached homes are the single most common housing type in Waco, accounting for 58.66% of the city's housing units. Other types of housing that are prevalent in Waco include large apartment complexes or high rise apartments ( 27.68%), duplexes, homes converted to apartments or other small apartment buildings ( 9.78%), and a few row houses and other attached homes ( 2.74%).
The most prevalent building size and type in Waco are three and four bedroom dwellings, chiefly found in single-family detached homes. The city has a mixture of owners and renters, with 44.32% owning and 55.69% renting.
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. Waco's housing was primarily built during this period, from the '40s through the '60s. A full 34.76% of the city's housing hails from this era. Other housing ages represented in Waco include homes built between 1970-1999 ( 34.16%) and housing constructed between 2000 and later ( 25.12%). There's also some housing in Waco built before 1939 ( 5.96%).
Vacant housing appears to be an issue in Waco. Fully 12.07% of the housing stock is classified as vacant. Left unchecked, vacant Waco homes and apartments can be a drag on the real estate market, holding Waco 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 Waco have been tracking above average for the last ten years, according to NeighborhoodScout data. The cumulative appreciation rate over the ten years has been 109.76%, which ranks in the top 30% nationwide. This equates to an annual average Waco house appreciation rate of 7.69%.
Over the last year, Waco appreciation rates have trailed the rest of the nation. In the last twelve months, Waco's appreciation rate has been -3.23%, which is lower than appreciation rates in most communities in America. In the latest quarter, NeighborhoodScout's data show that house appreciation rates in Waco were at -3.65%, which equates to an annual appreciation rate of -13.81%.
Notably, Waco's appreciation rate in the latest quarter is one of the lowest in America.
Relative to Texas, our data show that Waco's latest annual appreciation rate is lower than 90% of the other cities and towns in Texas.
One very important thing to keep in mind is that these are average appreciation rates for the city. Individual neighborhoods within Waco differ in their investment potential, sometimes by a great deal. Fortunately, you can use NeighborhoodScout to pinpoint the exact neighborhoods in Waco - 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 Waco real estate investment or home purchase decisions.
$204,463
for Texas
for nation
52,256
$1,627 / per month