Press release
Realtor.com® Forecasts the 2023 Top Housing Markets
Hartford-West Hartford, Conn., El Paso, Texas, and Louisville, Ky. take top spots in annual ranking of areas poised for highest home price appreciation and
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[{"type":"text","content":"Hartford-West Hartford, Conn., El Paso, Texas, and Louisville, Ky. take top spots in annual ranking of areas poised for highest home price appreciation and sales growth\nSANTA CLARA, Calif., Dec. 7, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- With affordability on home buyers' minds as interest rates continue to increase and outsized price tags have become the pandemic-born norm, Realtor.com® offers hope – and helpful information – for buyers with its 2023 Top Housing Markets forecast. These markets are not only poised to see the strongest combined growth in home sales and listing prices in the coming year, but up to this point they have seen lower price increases, a relatively smaller affordability crunch than other markets across the U.S.\n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n\n \nMainly concentrated in mid-size markets east of the Mississippi, with local industries tied to manufacturing, education, healthcare and government, this year's top 10, in rank order, are Hartford-West Hartford, Conn., El Paso, Texas, Louisville, Ky., Worcester, Mass., Buffalo-Cheektowaga N.Y., Augusta-Richmond County, Ga., Grand Rapids-Wyoming, Mich., Columbia, S.C., Chattanooga, Tenn., and Toledo, Ohio. (See below for the full ranking of the 100 largest U.S. markets.)\nHome sales across the top 10 markets are forecasted to grow by 5.2% year-over-year in 2022, whereas the national homes sale projection is for declining sales (-14.1%). Additionally, average home prices in the top 10 are expected to increase 7.3% – compared to 5.4% for the U.S. as a whole.\nAt a time when housing costs are a concern for many, these areas offer relative affordability, having experienced less of a price surge than other extremely hot, pandemic-era markets. They also have a greater share of homeowners who own their homes outright, without a mortgage, giving more residents equity to build on. In the top 10 markets, about 23% of housing inventory is affordable at the median income level, compared to just 17% of affordable homes nationally. Better affordability offers some insulation from the impact of rising mortgage rates.\n\"As many households keep a close watch on their spending, we expect these top housing markets to be in relatively high demand,\" says Realtor.com® Chief Economist Danielle Hale. \"We've seen lower price increases, more general affordability and more use of government-backed mortgage products...