Dive Brief:
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Realtor.com looked at the country’s 100 biggest metropolitan areas and identified the 10 that are experiencing the lowest levels of competition for homes.
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To factor out the metros in which sluggish homebuying activity was due to a lack of job growth, the real-estate listing website eliminated those in the bottom 20% of major U.S. metros based on unemployment rate.
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The markets to make the list fall primarily on the East Coast, with the exception of El Paso, TX, which took the No. 1 spot. Albany, NY, came in No. 2, followed by Virginia Beach, VA, Winston-Salem, NC, and Augusta, GA, rounding out the top five.
Dive Insight:
So much attention is given to the most active construction markets that it’s worth exploring areas where building has been cooling off, and why. Most of the markets to make Realtor.com’s list had median home prices on par with or below those reported in the latest round of housing market intel.
Last week, the National Association of Realtors listed the median existing-home price at $234,000 for September, up 5.6% from the same period a year ago. Zillow reported $189,400 as the median U.S. home value for the month, 5.5% ahead of September 2015, while Redfin was higher, posting a median sale price of $267,500 for the period, a 4.4% year-over-year increase.
Meanwhile, Realtor.com's ranking of the 20 most active housing markets in September pulled a median home price of $250,000 — consistent from August but up 9% from a year earlier.
The common refrain? Home prices, new and existing, are continuing to rise. That’s making it difficult for existing homeowners to trade up to larger homes, which would loosen inventory and make pricing more competitive for first-timers.
Still, first-time buyers — primarily individuals between the ages of 25 and 34 — accounted for half of home shoppers in September, according to a report from Realtor.com, but economists note that it’ll be a few years yet before that group is back it its prerecession share of 40% of total home sales.
