If you’re looking to purchase a home in Texas, now, more than ever since the housing crisis, is the time to do so. Forbes teamed up with Local Market Monitor, a North Carolina-based company that tracks more than 300 housing markets. Together they came up with 20 markets that are best for home investments in 2017.
Dallas leads the way
At #1 on the list, Dallas is definitely the spot to purchase to get the most bang for your buck. The average home price is up 3.9% from a year ago but still underpriced by 3% compared to the city’s historic average at $233,000. A 6.2% population growth in the past 3 years along with a 3.9% job growth during 2016 leads to predictions that prices will increase 31% by 2020.
Overall, Texas is on top
The state holds the top spot on the 2017 list, but also holds the second most spots overall, including Fort Worth at #9 and San Antonio at #20. Texas bounced back from the recession and housing crisis faster than the rest of the country because it wasn’t hit as hard to begin with. This means Texas has been adding jobs longer and more quickly than the rest of the country. More people moved to Texas in 2015 than any other state aside from Florida, because of opportunity and affordable housing options. Austin, which made the 2016 ranking, would make a top 30 list, but is a bit overpriced compared to where it was a year ago.
Austin prices to normalize
Austin homes increased in value by an average of 65.5% from 2006 to 2016, according to a study of federal housing data by the American City Business Journal. This is higher than anywhere else in the country.
But compared to 2013-2015, the housing market finally began to “normalize” in 2016. This means that homes were on the market longer with fewer multi-offer sales on single-family homes. This is because there is now more supply, so homes just aren’t able to sell as fast.
Homes under $500,000 are continuing to sell at a rapid pace, which is good for buyers. This means that homes on the upper end of the market are having to come down in price to make a sale. It’s also thought that housing prices in Austin will continue to normalize in 2017 as job growth begins to slow.
So if you’re looking to buy in Texas, get to it, though it may be worth waiting until a bit later in 2017 if you’re going to buy in Austin.