Rockford leads the country in home price gains

Ask people where home prices grew most over the last four years and most would guess somewhere like San Francisco. It's Rockford, Illinois: up 38% since September 2022, the most of any of the 300 largest metros. San Francisco is flat over the same stretch.

The rest of the top of the list looks similar: Syracuse, Wausau, Norwich, Green Bay. Mostly smaller cities in the Midwest and Northeast where very few homes come up for sale.

We couldn't have invested in places like this with our old rental funds. You needed people on the ground. With co-owners living in and looking after their own homes, we don't.

Source: ResiClub analysis of the Zillow Home Value Index, September 2022 to September 2026, 300 largest metros