The top housing market for home buyers in the country is … drum roll … Albany, N.Y., according to a newly released realtor.com® study.
The combination of low sales price growth and more homes for sale is making Albany a hot choice for home buyers, according to the study. The median list price was about $295,000 in April—about 5% below the national median of $310,000.
“It’s a very middle-class, homey city,” Anthony Gucciardo, a local broker with Gucciardo Real Estate, told realtor.com®. “We have a lot of state government and colleges, so there [are] employment opportunities.”
Following Albany, rounding out the 10 top nationwide buyers markets—those most favorable to home shoppers, according to realtor.com®—are: Chicago; San Antonio, Texas; Jacksonville, Fla.; Riverside, Calif.; Los Angeles; Providence, R.I.; Dallas; Nashville, Tenn.; and Tampa, Fla.
In these markets, price growth has slowed, averaging a modest 1.4% year over year compared to 8.4% the prior year. Also, buyers are getting more choices: For Sale signs in these markets are growing, averaging 14.6% year over year. Nationally, inventories have risen only 4%, for comparison.
“These 10 housing markets are already more buyer-friendly when looking at the availability of homes for sale in different markets,” says Danielle Hale, realtor.com®’s chief economist. “As inventory continues to grow in these markets, buyers will see more options, and should ultimately gain more bargaining power.”
Source: “The Top Real Estate Market for Home Buyers Is What?” realtor.com(R) (June 4, 2019)
