Real Estate Trends - Where Value & Purchases are Going

There is significant geographic overlap between existing wealth, investment property, and where home-buyers are moving

Certain U.S. counties consistently stand out for their concentration of absentee-owned properties, recent home purchases, and residential property values. Interestingly, many of the same markets appear across all three categories, revealing geographic hotspots for real estate activity and homeowner-related business opportunities.

In our analysis, 17 counties appear across all three top-25 rankings, including major markets such as Los Angeles County, CA; Maricopa County, AZ; Harris County, TX; and Cook County, IL. These markets combine substantial property ownership, purchasing activity, and residential real estate value.

Explore the interactive maps and rankings below to discover which counties lead in absentee ownership, 2026 home purchases, and average home values—and what these patterns could mean for real estate, insurance, property management, and financial services professionals.

What These Homeowner Trends Mean for Businesses

The overlap between absentee ownership, recent home purchases, and property values highlights markets with multiple types of real estate activity. For businesses serving homeowners, these patterns can help identify geographic areas worth prioritizing for customer acquisition and marketing.

Real Estate & Property Management: Counties with large absentee-owner populations represent potential opportunities to reach landlords, real estate investors, and second-home owners. Combining absentee ownership with recent purchase activity can help identify newly acquired properties that may require management, maintenance, or investment-related services.

Insurance & Home Services: Recent home purchases frequently create demand for homeowners insurance, property improvements, repairs, and ongoing maintenance. Markets with substantial transaction activity can provide valuable starting points for identifying prospective customers.

Wealth Management & Financial Services: High-value residential markets may offer opportunities to reach homeowners with significant property assets. Property values, estimated equity, ownership characteristics, and demographic indicators can be combined to develop more targeted prospecting audiences.

Turning Property Trends Into Targeted Marketing Opportunities

While county-level rankings reveal where real estate activity is concentrated, the greatest marketing value comes from identifying the individual property owners behind those trends. Combining geographic insights with property characteristics, ownership status, purchase history, and homeowner contact information allows businesses to develop more precise audiences.

Datazapp helps businesses turn property and homeowner intelligence into actionable marketing data through targeted homeowner lists, property-based audience selection, and contact data enrichment services. Whether you're reaching recent homebuyers, absentee owners, or homeowners in high-value markets, the right data can help connect your business with the audiences most relevant to your services.

Note: County rankings represent different measures of real estate activity. High absolute counts may reflect county population and housing-market size, and overlapping rankings do not necessarily indicate that the same properties or homeowners appear in each category.