With home prices continuing to rise at an annual clip of 6% or more, buying a home becomes an even more important decision for buyers. The last thing you want to do is buy a home in a market that is dying.
Chances are a first-time buyer who has not struck gold in some way or another will not be able to afford to buy a house in San Jose, California, where the median price tops $1 million. There are, however, other markets that offer more realistically priced homes.
The economic data researchers at Realtor.com have pored over data on the number of home sales, prices, inventories and new construction in the country’s 100 largest markets, along with local economies, population trends, median incomes and other factors, to come up with a list of the best real estate markets for next year.
Realtor.com Chief Economist Danielle Hale noted:
People are going to continue to seek out pockets of affordability that remain in the market. A lot of these places are more affordable than surrounding areas, yet still have strong economies. Even though prices are expected to grow, most of these markets will still remain relatively affordable in 2018.
Here are the 10 top housing markets for 2018, along with median home price, predicted sales growth and predicted price growth.
Las Vegas, Nevada
> Median home price: $285,045
> Predicted sales growth: 4.9%
> Predicted price growth: 6.9%
Dallas, Texas
> Median home price: $339,300
> Predicted sales growth: 6.0%
> Predicted price growth: 5.6%
Deltona, Florida
> Median home price: $275,050
> Predicted sales growth: 5.5%
> Predicted price growth: 6.0%
Stockton, California
> Median home price: $385,050
> Predicted sales growth: 4.6%
> Predicted price growth: 6.4%
Lakeland, Florida
> Median home price: $224,950
> Predicted sales growth: 3.0%
> Predicted price growth: 7.0%
Salt Lake City, Utah
> Median home price: $360,828
> Predicted sales growth: 4.6%
> Predicted price growth: 4.5%
Charlotte, North Carolina
> Median home price: $325,045
> Predicted sales growth: 6.0%
> Predicted price growth: 3.0%
Colorado Springs, Colorado
> Median home price: $375,000
> Predicted sales growth: 3.1%
> Predicted price growth: 5.7%
Nashville, Tennessee
> Median home price: $358,501
> Predicted sales growth: 1.0%
> Predicted price growth: 7.7%
Tulsa, Oklahoma
> Median home price: $199,586
> Predicted sales growth: 7.5%
> Predicted price growth: 1.0%
The Realtor.com website has more details and comments on each of the cities on this list.
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