Moving this fall? Here are the strongest housing markets this season

The South takes the cake

If you’re looking to buy a home in this fall, you might want to consider heading south. According to Ten-X’s fall 2017 Top Single-Family Housing Markets Report, that’s where the majority of the nation’s strongest markets lie. In fact, the Lone Star State alone claimed the top three spots.

Texas dominates top housing markets list

Taking the title as the country’s strongest single-family market this fall was San Antonio, which has seen sales rise 2.6 percent over the last year. Home prices have also jumped in the Alamo City, increasing 11.2 percent since 2016.

But rising prices aren’t cause for concern just yet, according to Ten-X. The real estate marketplace reported that “Despite these trends, homes in San Antonio remain very affordable and have historically shown less downside risk compared to the rest of the U.S.”

Coming in at No. 2 was Fort Worth — the North Texas town where, as its slogan tells it, “the West begins.” Fort Worth home prices have jumped 10.8 percent year over year, with a median price of $191K. Sales rose 2.5 percent over the year.

Still, like San Antonio, Fort Worth’s prices are still quite affordable.

“An overheated market has yet to become a concern as prices are still very affordable and historically have shown only modest downside risk,” Ten-X reported.

Rounding out the rest of the top five were Dallas; Columbus, Ohio; and Tampa, Florida, which saw home prices rise more than 12 percent year over year.

According to Rick Sharga, Ten-X’s Executive Vice President, those markets might not remain at the top for long.

“The cities at the top of our list have consistently seen the most favorable market factors,” Sharga said. “However, hot housing markets can come and go. It remains to be seen what impact Hurricanes Harvey and Irma will have on construction labor forces and housing inventory in Texas and Florida.”

Other markets on the radar

Ten-X list ranked the nation’s largest 50 metro markets for “performance potential,” taking into account home prices, sales volume, construction permit activity and affordability. Also toward the top of the list were:

• Orlando, Florida
• Indianapolis, Indiana
• Austin, Texas
• Nashville, Tennessee
• Raleigh, North Carolina
• Charlotte, North Carolina
• Las Vegas, Nevada
• Fort Lauderdale, Florida
• Palm Beach County, Florida
• Atlanta, Georgia

The worst-ranked cities hailed mostly from the West Coast and the Northeast. The bottom five metros were San Jose, California; San Francisco; Los Angeles; Central New Jersey; and Northern New Jersey.

As Sharga put it, “Southern California and Northeast markets continue to cool due to soaring prices and low inventory, which keeps homeownership out of reach for many first-time buyers.”

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