If you’re like most New England sports fans, you’re looking forward to a deep playoff run by the New England Patriots culminating in Tom Brady and Bob Kraft hoisting the Lombardi trophy.

While most Las Vegas oddmakers have the Seattle Seahawks as slight favorites to win Super Bowl XLIX Feb. 1 in Phoenix, along comes mortgage site HSH.com with some data indicating that Bill Belichick’s charges have the upper hand.

HSH analyzed mortgage rates last year after the first round of the NFL playoffs and determined that the metro area of every winning team had a higher mortgage rate than their opponent. The trend continued through the Super Bowl, with the Seahawks – presumably undiscouraged by the Seattle area’s higher mortgage rates – beating the Denver Broncos 43-8.

This year, HSH found a different correlation after the first round: teams in metros with higher average home prices than their opponents all advanced.

Based upon that metric, the Patriots have the edge based upon the Boston-area’s median home price of just under $400,000.
Of the teams remaining in the playoffs, the Indianapolis Colts have the most affordable housing market, with median home prices in the metro area of $149,800. Seattle has the second-priciest residential real estate, with median home prices of $359,900.

-STEVE ADAMS