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The Grand Rapids - Wyoming metropolitan area is the nation's fourth best medium-sized housing market, according to nerdwallet.com

(File photo | Mlive Media Group)



GRAND RAPIDS, MI – The Grand Rapids-Wyoming metropolitan area is the nation's fourth-best medium-sized market for home ownership, according to nerdwallet.com, an Internet-based personal finance site.

According to nerdwallet.com, the Grand Rapids-Wyoming market achieved its status by scoring high on their survey’s three questions: Are homes available? Can you afford to live there? Is the area growing?

Grand Rapids scored high with 72 percent of the households owning a home while spending 30.1 percent of their monthly household income on housing, according to nerdwallet.com

While Grand Rapids’ median monthly household income of $4,191 was lowest among the survey’s top four housing markets, its median monthly homeowner costs of $1,261 also were the lowest among the top four.

Click here to read the Nerdwallet.com article.



"The city has been nationally recognized as a great place to live with particular emphasis on its sustainability efforts, employment prospects and emerging downtown scene," the article said.

“Historically known as a furniture manufacturing center, its local economy is now diversified with large employers in the health care, consumer goods and technology industries,” the article said. “Named BeerCity USA for two years in a row, beer lovers will also enjoy sampling the area’s craft breweries.”

Grand Rapids scored the highest of any metropolitan area in the Great Lakes with an overall score of 73.2. Des Moines-West Des Moines, Iowa was the top-ranked medium housing market with an overall score of 89.2, following by Ogden-Clearfield, Utah and Provo-Orem, Utah.

Among large metropolitan areas, Raleigh-Cary, N.C., was ranked 1st with an overall score of 89.2, followed by Charlotte-Gastonia-Rock Hill, N.C. and Salt Lake City, Utah.

In the small city category, Huntsville, Ala. ranked first with an overall score of 73, followed by Fort Wayne, Ind. and Myrtle Beach-North Myrtle Beach-Conway, S.C..

RELATED: West Michigan home sales rebounded in 2013, but inventory remained a problem

Jim Harger covers business for MLive/Grand Rapids Press. Email him at jharger@mlive.com or follow him on Twitter or Facebook or Google+.