One glance at home prices in Kingston is enough to make a first-time homebuyer faint, especially given circa-2025 interest rates. But how does our skyrocketing real estate market compare to the rest of the country’s metro areas?
It doesn’t.
Kingston, NY, saw the largest home price increase in the country in 2024, according to the latest Freddie Mac House Price Index. Among 384 tracked metro areas, Kingston led with a 13.5% year-over-year price surge, outpacing all other markets.
The 2024 increase was modest compared to Ulster County’s explosive 44% Covid-era home price increase experienced in 2021 — with prices rising each subsequent year — but that only underscores just how high prices already were when 2024 put Kingston in the real estate record books.
In the throes of steadily skyrocketing prices, the city continues to scramble on all fronts in hopes of developing affordable housing against the headwinds of “not in my backyard” residents and legal challenges from the well-resourced landlord class.
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