REAL ESTATE TRENDS...Markets Where Starbucks Boosts Home Values the Most

Starbucks caffeinates home values, too, and some cities see a bigger jolt than others.

#ZILLOWTALK / MARKET TRENDS / STORY / BY MELISSA ALLISON ON 26 FEB 2015

Here’s a hot home-buying tip that’s been percolating since “Zillow Talk: The New Rules of Real Estate” was released: Buying near a Starbucks has benefits beyond easy access to your double-tall, non-fat, bone-dry cappuccino.

Between 1997 and 2014, homes within a quarter-mile of a Starbucks increased in value by 96 percent, on average, compared with 65 percent for all U.S. homes, based on a comparison of Zillow Home Value Index data with a database of Starbucks locations.

Some areas brew even frothier returns, as Julie Lerch can attest.

A little over a year after she moved in, a Starbucks opened less than two blocks from her Chicago condo. Three years later, she sold the 2-bedroom unit for $100,000 — or 53 percent — more than she paid for it.

“Everybody was all excited, because our property values did go up,” she said. “It was a sign that the neighborhood was changing, and people who normally wouldn’t have chanced that neighborhood said, ‘Oh, that’s a Starbucks.'”

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Lest you think all java purveyors have the same effect, the data showed that homes near Dunkin’ Donuts locations appreciated 80 percent, on average, during the same 17-year period.

In that time, Starbucks has had the biggest effect on home values in these metro areas:

1. Boston, MA, ironically, deep in the heart of Dunkin’ Donuts territory
2. Philadelphia, PA, where blonde roast reigns, according to Time magazine
3. Washington, DC
4. Chicago, IL, Starbucks’ first market outside the Northwest
5. Baltimore, MD
6. Portland, OR, where the favorite drink is an eggnog latte
7. Miami-Fort Lauderdale, FL
8. Atlanta, GA
9. Seattle, WA, Starbucks’ (and Zillow’s) hometown
10. Riverside, CA

Check out Zillow Research for more details on how proximity to Starbucks affects home values in 20 of the nation’s largest metro areas.