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 44,261 people, 16,461 houses or apartments, and a median cost of homes of $131,329, house prices in Wilkes-Barre are some of the most affordable in Pennsylvania as well as the nation.
Single-family detached homes are the single most common housing type in Wilkes-Barre, accounting for 51.13% of the city's housing units. Other types of housing that are prevalent in Wilkes-Barre include large apartment complexes or high rise apartments ( 18.45%), duplexes, homes converted to apartments or other small apartment buildings ( 16.45%), and a few row houses and other attached homes ( 13.57%).
The most prevalent building size and type in Wilkes-Barre are three and four bedroom dwellings, chiefly found in single-family detached homes. The city has a mixture of owners and renters, with 44.02% owning and 55.98% renting.
The housing in Wilkes-Barre was primarily built before 1939 ( 46.29%), making the housing stock in Wilkes-Barre some of the oldest overall in America, although there is a range of ages of homes in Wilkes-Barre. The next most important housing age is between 1970-1999 ( 25.75%), followed by between 1940-1969 ( 25.17%). There's also some housing in Wilkes-Barre built between 2000 and later ( 2.79%).
Vacant housing appears to be an issue in Wilkes-Barre. Fully 17.32% of the housing stock is classified as vacant. Left unchecked, vacant Wilkes-Barre homes and apartments can be a drag on the real estate market, holding Wilkes-Barre 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.
Wilkes-Barre's appreciation rate notably has been below the national average for the last ten years. The average annual home appreciation rate in Wilkes-Barre during the period has been just 5.53%, which is lower than 70% of US communities.
Over the last year, Wilkes-Barre appreciation rates have trailed the rest of the nation. In the last twelve months, Wilkes-Barre's appreciation rate has been 1.89%, which is lower than appreciation rates in most communities in America. In the latest quarter, NeighborhoodScout's data show that house appreciation rates in Wilkes-Barre were at -1.71%, which equates to an annual appreciation rate of -6.67%.
Notably, Wilkes-Barre's appreciation rate in the latest quarter is one of the lowest in America.
Relative to Pennsylvania, our data show that Wilkes-Barre's latest annual appreciation rate is lower than 90% of the other cities and towns in Pennsylvania.
One very important thing to keep in mind is that these are average appreciation rates for the city. Individual neighborhoods within Wilkes-Barre differ in their investment potential, sometimes by a great deal. Fortunately, you can use NeighborhoodScout to pinpoint the exact neighborhoods in Wilkes-Barre - 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 Wilkes-Barre real estate investment or home purchase decisions.
$131,329
for Pennsylvania
for nation
16,461
$1,464 / per month