In a ranking of the nations 50 largest housing markets, Ten-X, an online real estate marketplace, detailed the top five summer markets according to current and forecasted housing fundamentals. By having a consistent strong demand, home price appreciation, favorable affordability, and economic and demographic growth, this quarter’s list donned four newcomers.
Nashville, Tennessee, which jumped from sixths to first this quarter, pushed Tampa, Florida out to eighth. Orlando made quite a jump, too, from eighth to second. Texas took over the rest of the top five with Fort Worth coming moving from twelfth to third, Dallas took two steps up to fourth position, and San Antonio brought up the rear of the top five.
"This quarter's housing report continues to show that the housing market recovery varies greatly by region," said Ten-X EVP Rick Sharga. "Markets in the South and Southeast with strong job and population growth—notably Texas and Florida—continue to have a much stronger outlook than much of the Midwest and Northeast. Markets in California and the Pacific Northwest appear to be cooling down a bit as home prices have risen to levels unaffordable for many prospective buyers."
Nashville showed 11.9 percent home price growth, year-over-year and 7.4 percent home sales growth. According to Ten-X, it’s improved in 20 consecutive quarters and risen almost 12 percent over the past year.
Annual sales in Orlando currently has outpaced the U.S. rate for 10 quarters straight. It has 9.9 percent year over year home price growth and 5.7 percent home sales growth—which is within 12 percent of their bubble peak. Their population growth and strong economic forecast hints to a continued healthy demand.
Fort Worth has reached its cyclical high, according to the report, of 11.7 percent year over year home price growth. They have hit an all-time high of 43 percent above pre-recession peaks; however, the homes are still extremely affordable. Though it affected a lot of the country, the oil slump only caused minimal declines during the housing crisis.
Dallas has regularly made Ten-X’s list of the nations top performers and this quarter shows 9.2 percent year over year home price growth. They had minimal price decline during the housing crisis and long benefited from “outstanding population growth and holds one of [Ten-X’s] top economic forecasts” hopefully continuing to drive housing demand.
In San Antonio, the report shows future growth is promising. Median priced topped $170,000 this quarter, which is 8.6 percent higher than last year. San Antonio is one of the most affordable in the nation, despite being 30 percent above their pre-recession peak. Year over year home price growth lands at 8.6 percent.
"The U.S. economy continues to expand in the face of policy, monetary and international uncertainty," said Ten-X Chief Economist Peter Muoio. "Despite some recent deceleration, the labor market is growing at a solid clip, unemployment remains low, and wage growth is stronger. As the U.S. housing market continues to progress, these top five metros share some of the key underpinnings for growth: superior demographic trends, bright economic outlooks, and affordable housing that should enable healthy demand and generous price growth in the coming years."