Rural Housing Prices Grew Rapidly in the 1990s

Rural housing prices rose faster than housing prices in metro areas during the 1990s. Between 1989 and 1999, the median price of owneroccupied homes increased by 59 percent in nonmetro areas compared with 39 percent in metro areas. Constant-quality measures find that a gap holds even after controlling for differences in housing quality. Net migration and household income growth drove the rapid growth of nonmetro housing prices. Still, nonmetro prices are significantly lower than prices in metro areas for comparable housing