Opportunity Zone Home Prices Lag Outside Zones

ATTOM's third-quarter 2026 report finds home price growth was more common in census tracts outside Opportunity Zones than inside them.

Updated on Nov. 4, 2026 in Residential

Bold flat-color vector editorial illustration of two adjacent clusters of house-shaped blocks, one coral and one teal, separated by a vertical divide on a flat ground plane. — ATTOM's third-quarter 2026 report found home prices rose in 48.9 percent of Opportunity Zone census tracts year over year, compared with 51.6 percent of tracts outside the zones. AI Illustration. Upload story photo >

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ATTOM released its third-quarter 2026 Opportunity Zones housing report, analyzing 3,805 census tracts with sufficient data. Year-over-year, home prices rose in 48.9 percent of Opportunity Zone tracts, compared with 51.6 percent of tracts outside the zones.

Why it matters

The findings suggest that Opportunity Zone designations have not translated into broadly faster home price appreciation across the United States. Because a majority of Opportunity Zone tracts remain priced below the national median, the report points to continued affordability differences between designated and non-designated areas.

ATTOM's analysis is based on recorded sales deeds, with tracts included only if they had at least five sales in the third quarter of 2026. Nearly 27.1 percent of Opportunity Zone tracts experienced double-digit year-over-year home value growth, but the report does not establish whether this pattern persists over longer periods.

The players

ATTOM

ATTOM is a national property data company that publishes housing market reports drawn from recorded real estate transactions.

The details

ATTOM found that 48.1 percent of 3,431 Opportunity Zone tracts saw median home prices rise quarter-over-quarter, and in 9.4 percent of those tracts the third quarter of 2026 marked the highest median home value since 2008. Maine had the largest share of tracts with year-over-year price growth at 64 percent, followed by South Carolina, Wisconsin, Virginia and Oregon.

Third quarter 2025: baseline for year-over-year comparisons.
Second quarter 2026: baseline for quarter-over-quarter comparisons.
Third quarter 2026: quarter analyzed in the report.
November 4, 2026: ATTOM publishes the report.

Policy Check

The findings measure housing outcomes against the goals of the federal Opportunity Zone program created by the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Results so far show designated tracts performing about the same as, or slightly below, tracts outside the zones on year-over-year price growth.

For buyers shopping in Opportunity Zones, the data suggests prices are not reliably rising faster than elsewhere, and roughly four in five tracts sit below the national median. Homeowners and prospective sellers should compare local recent sales rather than assume a zone designation will drive appreciation.

The takeaway

Opportunity Zone status alone has not reliably produced faster home price growth, so buyers and sellers should weigh local sales data over designation. Checking recent tract-level sales in a specific neighborhood gives a clearer picture than the zone label.