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ZipRealty Releases List of Most Affordable Housing Markets of 2013

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SOURCE ZipRealty, Inc.

Two Texas metros top the list, while two East Coast cities are among the most expensive.

EMERYVILLE, Calif., March 14, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- ZipRealty, Inc. (http://www.ziprealty.com) (NASDAQ: ZIPR), the leading online technology-enabled residential real estate brokerage company, has released a list of the 10 most affordable housing markets of 2013 based on ZipRealty's analysis of two years of authoritative MLS data and U.S. Census Bureau information. The evaluation compared median home sale prices in 30 metropolitan areas to median household income levels in those same cities. Those metropolitan areas with the lowest ratios of home price to household income were deemed to be the most affordable areas for the purposes of the study.

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Metropolitan areas in Texas and non-coastal regions are the best places to find a real estate bargain, according to the study. Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston and Minneapolis-St. Paul top the list as the most affordable metropolitan areas, while Washington, D.C., Brooklyn, N.Y. and the San Francisco Bay Area are the most expensive.

"ZipRealty's analysis shows that in the most affordable areas, the average home sells for about five to six times annual average household income levels," says Lanny Baker, CEO and President of ZipRealty.  "However, at the other end of the spectrum, homes in the least affordable metro areas are selling for as much as 11 to 13 times the local household income standards, and in one city we researched, the average house price to income level ratio was almost 17,"says Mr. Baker. "Purchasing a home is a major ticket item for people in any city, and yet our research clearly shows that housing affordability can differ vastly from one city to the next.  It is important for consumers to understand how housing in their local market tends to be priced relative not only to local income levels, but in comparison to other areas of the nation," he continues.

Below is a list of the Top 10 Most Affordable Housing Markets with the current ratio of median home sales prices to median household income shown for each metropolitan area. 

ZipRealty's list of the most affordable housing markets was created using the most accurate and complete data in the real estate industry, which is detailed in the company's Data Quality Report, http://bit.ly/107LMMp, which was released on March 6, 2013. ZipRealty discovered that prominent real estate websites consistently fail to display a significant number of MLS-listed homes for sale, while also presenting a large number of sold homes as if they were currently for sale. The study results show that up to 30% of MLS listed homes for sale are missing from other real estate websites, and over 15% of the listings on these websites are stale, expired or inactive. In contrast, ZipRealty never includes sold homes in search results, and has an accuracy rate of greater than 99% on MLS listed homes for sale.

Based on ZipRealty data, the Top 10 Most Expensive Housing Markets are:

www.ziprealty.com

About ZipRealty, Inc.
ZipRealty is a leading national real estate brokerage and provider of proprietary technology and comprehensive online marketing tools for the residential real estate brokerage industry. For home buyers and sellers who increasingly want control, choice and a seamless, customized service, ZipRealty offers Internet-enabled, state-of-the-art technology and complete access to accurate, timely information via their website and mobile applications, which real estate professionals can combine with their own local knowledge and personal expertise to offer an exceptional start-to-finish client experience. For real estate professionals who seek more productive ways to conduct business, ZipRealty provides technology and online marketing tools to enhance their online sales channel, including lead generation, conversion and service of their clients. ZipRealty's technology and online marketing products serve its full-service, owned-and-operated residential real estate brokerage business in 19 markets nationwide, as well as its Powered by Zip network of leading third-party local brokerages in 15 markets.

Media Contact: Stacey Corso
510.735.2667
scorso@ziprealty.com

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