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 a population of 24,157, 11,494 total housing units (homes and apartments), and a median house value of $203,898, house prices in Watertown are solidly below the national average.
Single-family detached homes are the single most common housing type in Watertown, accounting for 43.86% of the city's housing units. Other types of housing that are prevalent in Watertown include duplexes, homes converted to apartments or other small apartment buildings ( 29.18%), large apartment complexes or high rise apartments ( 22.31%), and a few row houses and other attached homes ( 3.77%).
People in Watertown primarily live in small (one, two or no bedroom) single-family detached homes. Watertown has a mixture of owner-occupied and renter-occupied housing.
The housing in Watertown was primarily built before 1939 ( 46.48%), making the housing stock in Watertown some of the oldest overall in America, although there is a range of ages of homes in Watertown. The next most important housing age is between 1940-1969 ( 28.69%), followed by between 1970-1999 ( 19.99%). There's also some housing in Watertown built between 2000 and later ( 4.84%).
Vacant housing appears to be an issue in Watertown. Fully 13.15% of the housing stock is classified as vacant. Left unchecked, vacant Watertown homes and apartments can be a drag on the real estate market, holding Watertown 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.
Watertown's appreciation rate notably has been below the national average for the last ten years. The average annual home appreciation rate in Watertown during the period has been just 5.21%, which is lower than 80% of US communities.
Appreciation rates are so strong in Watertown that despite a nationwide downturn in the housing market, Watertown real estate has continued to appreciate in value faster than most communities. Looking at just the latest twelve months, Watertown appreciation rates continue to be some of the highest in America, at 13.64%, which is higher than appreciation rates in 99.43% of the cities and towns in the nation. Based on the last twelve months, short-term real estate investors have found good fortune in Watertown. Watertown appreciation rates in the latest quarter were at 7.71%, which equates to an annual appreciation rate of 34.62%.
Importantly, this makes Watertown 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 New York, our data show that Watertown's latest annual appreciation rate is higher than 90% of the other cities and towns in New York.
One very important thing to keep in mind is that these are average appreciation rates for the city. Individual neighborhoods within Watertown differ in their investment potential, sometimes by a great deal. Fortunately, you can use NeighborhoodScout to pinpoint the exact neighborhoods in Watertown - 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 Watertown real estate investment or home purchase decisions.
$203,898
for New york
for nation
11,494
$1,594 / per month