Is Your City a Top Real Estate Market?
They list, I blog. BusinessWeek and Forbes have come out with their own discrete, but somewhat complementary, lists of America's Top Cities for Housing after analyzing market data provided by Zillow.com (let me here wave hi to Zillow chief economist Stan Humphries). Here's what you need to know about them:
The BW list, titled "America's Top Housing Markets," is in the now: it looks at what percentage of single-family homes rose in value in individual cities. The writer is Prashant Gopal; the timeframe is the past year, 2Q 2009 over 2Q 2008. I like this list not just because my hometown of Little Rock, Ark. is #7 (go Razorbacks!), but because it really reflects widespread strength in a particular housing market. If a lot of homes are gaining in value, chances are the driver is a strong business climate, and heaven knows we're all looking for that now.
BusinessWeek's Top Five:
- Boulder, Colo.
- Spartanburg, S.C.
- New Orleans, La.
- Binghamton, N.Y.
- Fayetteville, N.C.
Forbes, on the other hand, is looking to the future: Matthew Woolsey's "Best Cities for a Housing Recovery" looks at places where sales activity picked up in the past year and where the percentage of foreclosure sales is the lowest. The idea is that if sales volume is turning around, it might be an indicator that demand is picking up -- so pricing might follow.
If you don't mind me drawing an analogy to stocks, BW offers a blue-chip list and Forbes is a momentum play.
Forbes' Top Five:
- Miami-Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.
- Lincoln, Neb.
- Colorado Springs, Colo.
- Salem, Ore.
- San Luis Obispo, Calif.
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