Would-be local home buyers and real-estate investors concerned about an impending downtown turn need not worry; according to credit- and financial-advice site WalletHub, all is well in the land of bats and tacos.
Austin claims first place in the of the site’s ranking of large cities (those with a population of more than 300,000) and fifth overall in the site’s study of the health of local real estate markets.
WalletHub compared 300 U.S. cities across 16 metrics ranging from median home-price appreciation to housing affordability to job growth. The study weighted various real-estate market measurements (percentage of homes underwater, average house-sale turnaround time) at 80 percent and affordability and economic factors (housing affordability, job growth, at population growth) at 20 percent.
WalletHub also cited other sources, including the New York Times and Nationwide, in painting a rosy housing picture: the Times recently reported that sales of new single-family homes were higher this past July than in nearly 10 years, and Nationwide reported at the end of quarter two that "the overall U.S. housing market is sustainable," adding that "few regional housing markets are vulnerable to a housing downturn."
You can read the full list of rankings and other information here.
• 2016’s Best Real-Estate Markets [WalletHub]