Market Appreciation - How to Calculate

[Harry James]

Hello BP Real Estate team,

I am looking to start investing in out of state properties (multif-family) units. I have done much of the prerequisite research - Price to rent ratios, growing cities, growing populations, growing economies etc. 

I am trying to figure out the best way to calculate the market appreciation in a certain city. I have been looking at Zillow, Realtor.com etc and have been seeing when the unit was last sold and for what price to give me a gage but I feel like there must be a more efficient way. 

Does anyone have any advice on how to calculate this? Additional what other considerations should I look into when choosing a market? 

Thank you very much, 

Harry