Homewood ranked third healthiest housing market in Alabama

SmartAsset, a company and website designed to help people make financial decisions, recently released its 2017 Healthiest Housing Markets list as part of its Mortgage information.

Of the cities in Alabama, Homewood was ranked as the No. 3 healthiest city in the state, second only to Leeds.

The study, which is conducted and distributed annually, gathers information from a variety of sources, including the U.S. Census Bureau, Zillow and the American Community Survey.

Information such as the average days on the market, the percentage of income home costs total, the percentage of homes decreasing in value and the average number of years owners live in a home are measured and compared to determine the final list.

"A healthy housing market is both stable and affordable," the study states in its methodology. "Homeowners in a healthy market should be able to easily sell their homes, with a low risk of losing money over the long run."

The study measures stability, risk and market fluidity, as well as the affordability of homes compared to the average income in a city and county.

In addition to being the second healthiest market, according to the study, Vestavia was also ranked No. 2 in terms of least risk, and No. 2 in ease of sale.

For the full study and additional details, as well as an interactive map for other states, visit smart asset.com.