According to Bankrate’s most recent Housing Heat Index, the U.S. housing market’s momentum has shifted in favor of the southeastern parts of the country. The research by Bankrate showed metros in Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, and North Carolina as being among the strongest seller markets in the country.
Despite much of the country facing pricing declines, values remain steady in the Southeast. The region has relatively affordable prices in general, that’s attractive when buyers are coming from more expensive areas.
Bankrate analyzes 212 metro areas to create their Housing Heat Index, looking at home value appreciation, employment levels, population trends, job growth, homes listed for sale, and the typical selling times.
According to Bankrate, the momentum moved from the West Coast and the Mountain West to the Southeast. Of 20 of the hottest markets listed, 18 are in the Southeast.
Lawrence Yun, the Chief Economist for the National Association of Realtors, said the Sun Belt Boom is based on two big factors—affordability and job growth.
The West Coast, as did the Rust Belt, had the coldest markets overall in the rankings.
Gainesville, Georgia, was at the top of the Housing Heat Index. It’s a metro about 50 miles northeast of Atlanta, with a population of 207,000. According to the Federal Housing Finance Agency, Gainesville had an annual home price appreciation of more than 21%, the fourth-highest in the country.
Following the surge in prices, the median home price of properties sold in Gainesville was still below the national median, but homes in the area with views of Lake Lanier usually go for much higher prices.
Along with affordable homes, the unemployment rate in Gainesville was only 2.6%.
Tim Evans, economic development vice president at the Greater Hall Chamber of Commerce, said that the area is attracting professionals moving out of Atlanta and wanting a quieter, slower pace of life. He said he’s seeing many people come to the area because they can work from home part of the time and commute to Atlanta a day or two a week.
The next-hottest metro on the Index was Knoxville, Tennessee. Knoxville ranked sixth in home price appreciation, scoring in the top 100 on all other data points.
Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Florida, was number three. Located in Southwest Florida, this area ranked fifth in price appreciation and eighth in population growth. The one issue or area of weakness was active listings, and it only ranked 207th in that part of the ranking, pulling it down overall.
The North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton, Florida area was next. This market on the Gulf Coast often ranks as one of the best for residents in the entire country, and it does well in terms of price appreciation and population growth but not as much so when it comes to active listings.
Then, there was Charlotte, the only major metro on the list.
The “coldest” metro areas overall, regardless of size, were:
- Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania—this is a buyer’s market ranking 183rd in price appreciation, 148th for job growth, and 177th for employment.
- Cedar Rapids, Iowa—the rankings included 200th for home value appreciation and problematic demographics regarding population growth and economics.
- Medford, Oregon—located near the California border, this metro got 210th in price appreciation and 188th for employment.
- Shreveport-Bossier City, Louisiana—Shreveport was below average in every category included on the index by Bankrate.
- Chico, California—Chico’s metro area had low rankings in all six metrics, including median days on the market, population growth, price appreciation, employment, job growth, and active listings.
Finally, among the hottest large metros were Charlotte, Nashville, Tampa, Dallas, and Orlando. Portland, Cleveland, Detroit, New Orleans, and Pittsburgh were the coldest large metros.
