Dive Brief:
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The Pacific Northwest and Mountain West will continue to be home to some of the leading property markets this year, while the once hot markets of South Florida and the Bay Area are set to weaken, according to a report on Housing Wire.
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Citing Veros Real Estate Solutions' recent VeroFORECAST, which is a quarterly forecast for the 12-month period ending December 1 this year, the property news website reported that cities in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Colorado account for 17 of the leading 25 markets.
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Seattle is set to be the leader this year, with home price appreciation forecasted at 10.9%. The city was closely followed by Denver, CO, at 10.2%, Bend, OR, at 9.5% and Portland, OR at 9.4%.
Dive Insight:
The latest predictions by Veros Real Estate Solutions dovetail other recent forecasts of home price appreciation being heavily led by the West, along with smaller markets away from the coasts.
Seattle seems to consistently appear near or at the top of everyone's list as the hottest market for the year ahead as the city swells in size, driven by solid employment opportunities and wage growth, which is squeezing supplies and forcing prices upwards.
Real estate listing website Redfin recently reported that Seattle is home to four of the top 10 and 10 of the top 30 most competitive neighborhoods for housing. The city was also second to Nashville, TN, in a recent Zillow forecast of the top property markets.
Surging demand for homes in Seattle has forced city officials to drum up initiatives to help bridge the affordable housing gap and in November the council approved a 30-year, $29 million affordable housing bond for the city's 2017 budget.
On the other end of the scale, Veros forecasts a high concentration of the bottom 25 markets to be in the Northeast of the country, with Poughkeepsie-Newburgh-Middletown in New York leading the way with a 2.5% drop in prices. Binghampton, NY, is next in line at -1.9% and Atlantic City, NJ at -1.8%.
Despite recent rises in mortgage rates, Veros expects the national housing market to remain strong this year, underpinned by a robust labor market.
