For prime investment locations, it may be time to look South. Forbes teamed up with Local Market Monitor, a company that tracks more than 300 housing markets, to uncover the top cities for investors in the new year. The markets that dominate this year’s list reflect two major benefits: affordability and growth.
“If you are planning on making an investment, either by buying a home or by buying a rental property, these are really good markets,” says Ingo Winzer, Local Market Monitor CEO. “These are markets where... you are probably going to get a good return and you are not taking an extraordinary risk.”
Dallas topped this year’s list. Home prices there average $233,000, up nearly 4 percent from a year ago. Yet, the city’s housing market is still considered underpriced by 3 percent compared to its historic average. Local Market Monitor predicts home prices in Dallas to increase 31 percent by 2020, due to a boom in job and population growth.
Here are the 15 cities investors could do particularly well in this year, according to the study:
- Dallas, Texas: 31% (the percentage increase predicted for home prices by 2020)
- Jacksonville, Fla.: 30%
- Orlando, Fla.: 28%
- Seattle, Wash.: 26%
- West Palm Beach, Fla.: 26%
- Salt Lake City, Utah: 25%
- Tampa-St. Petersburg, Fla.: 25%
- Nashville, Tenn.: 24%
- Fort Worth, Texas: 24%
- Grand Rapids, Mich.: 23%
- Sacramento, Calif.: 22%
- Charlotte, N.C.: 21%
- Raleigh, N.C.: 21%
- San Diego, Calif.: 21%
- Las Vegas, Nev.: 20%
Source: “Best Buy Cities: Where to Invest in Housing in 2017,” Forbes.com (Jan. 10, 2017)
