The Super Bowl attracts hundreds of millions of dollars in local tourism and retail business for the city that hosts football’s annual mega-event, but does it have a long-term impact on home sales?
Realtor.com® researchers discovered that in host cities, there tends to be at least a 50 percent jump in the number of listings near the stadium where the game is held leading up to the Super Bowl. However, the longer-term impact varied and was more pronounced in lower-cost neighborhoods.
This year, the Super Bowl is being held in Minneapolis, where the median home price in the stadium’s ZIP code is $572,000. The area around the new stadium is attracting a large amount of new development. Local real estate agents say sellers are debating whether to list prior to the Super Bowl or wait until after, when activity calms down.
Realtor.com® examined recent Super Bowl host cities, comparing how many consumers viewed listings on the site in those metros one month prior to the game and in the month it was played. They also accounted for changes in the number of home sales and median list price in the 12 months following the game. Here are some of their findings:
Houston
- Host: 2017
- Median home price in stadium’s ZIP code: $150,000
- Percentage change since the Super Bowl: –18 percent
In January and February 2017, around the time Houston hosted the Super Bowl, the number of listings in the city surged 30 percent. NRG Stadium’s ZIP code saw a 52 percent jump. Four of the five ZIP codes in Houston that saw the biggest spikes in listings were within eight miles of the Super Bowl stadium. However, the total number of home sales for 2017 in Houston dropped, mostly attributed to Hurricane Harvey, which battered Texas last fall. But in the weeks prior to the Super Bowl, the condo market was hot, and buyers were purchasing $100,000 to $200,000 units in cash, says Brooks Ballard, a sales associate with Engel & Völkers.
Santa Clara, Calif.
- Host: 2016
- Median home price in stadium’s ZIP code: $986,600
- Percentage change since the Super Bowl: +3 percent
Rental demand was three times higher during the 2016 Super Bowl than the game held the previous year. “People not even close to the stadium thought they could get two or three months’ worth of rent for a single week,” says Rick Smith, a broker at Windermere Silicon Valley. But despite strong demand, “it didn’t happen, and many were disappointed.” Santa Clara didn’t see much of a long-term housing boost from the Super Bowl. Realtor.com® found that page views in the area dropped 16 percent, and sales dropped 4 percent the following year. But researchers did find a 13 percent increase in page views in the ZIP code Santa Clara’s Levi Stadium calls home. Silicon Valley’s already high home prices may have tamped down a housing spike: The median list price in the San Jose metro area, which includes Santa Clara, was $912,000 in February 2016. (It has since jumped to $1.1 million.)
Glendale, Ariz.
- Host: 2015
- Median home price in stadium’s ZIP code: $310,000
- Percentage change since the Super Bowl: +24 percent
This city, located 13 miles from downtown Phoenix, saw a housing boost following Super Bowl XLIX. Listings in the Phoenix metro surged 31 percent in January and February 2015, compared to 22 percent across the country, according to realtor.com®. The ZIP code where the stadium is located saw listings skyrocket 100 percent in that time. “I had around 10 sellers who wanted to get listed before the Super Bowl because they knew there was going to be an extraordinary amount of extra exposure,” says Kristy Ryan, ABR, GRI, a sales associate at RE/MAX Fine Properties.
East Rutherford, N.J.
- Host: 2014
- Median home price in stadium’s ZIP code: $322,700
- Percentage change since the Super Bowl: –3 percent
Just outside New York, the city of East Rutherford did not see many long-term benefits for housing after hosting the Super Bowl. However, the ZIP code where the stadium is located did see listings leap 150 percent around the time of the game. Also, the area around the stadium saw a 17 percent increase in realtor.com® page views while the rest of the metro area saw a 4 percent drop.
New Orleans
- Host: 2013
- Median home price in stadium’s ZIP code: $398,500
- Percentage change since the Super Bowl: +25 percent
The game gave the New Orleans housing market a big jolt, says Joyce Delery, a broker at Engel & Völkers. Vacation homes and condos in the Warehouse District, as well as homes in the French Quarter, were the big winners. Listings around the stadium rose 67 percent at the time of the Super Bowl. “These [fans] are the type of people who could afford second or third homes,” Delery says.”You have people who make impulse buys.”
Source: “Hut, Hut, Price Hike! Does Hosting a Super Bowl Have a Super Impact on Home Sales?” realtor.com® (Jan. 29, 2018)
