27 Nov Rent No More! 10 U.S. Cities With Huge Increases in Homeownership
It’s time to tune out the chatter, the doom, and certainly the gloom: The American Dream of homeownership is alive and well. Really.
But that doesn’t mean it’s easy to buy a home these days. So what are the stumbling blocks? Stroke-inducing student loan debt. Soaring home andrent prices, and a lack of properties in many markets. And let’s not forget the Great Recession, which set so many would-be buyers back on their heels.
All this has dragged down homeownership rates, which hit 63.9% nationally in the third quarter of the year, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. That’s down about five percentage points from their pre-crash high in 2004.
But wait: There are bright beacons of hope across the nation, places where homeownership is actually on the rise.
The data team at realtor.com® set out to find those metros where homeownership rates are growing the fastest. In the process, we discovered a few trends. Ownership is shooting up the most in Rust Belt cities undergoing a resurgence; in smaller cities close to much bigger and pricier metros, where commuters can snag a home for less; and in fast-growing Southern hubs that are continuing to experience booming job markets.
Bonus: More than half of the metros on our list boast median prices well under the national median of $274,492.
“Affordability is a strong draw to these areas,” says Danielle Hale, chief economist at realtor.com®. A lot of these cities are on the outskirts of big cities where folks can snag an abode for less and then commute downtown for work, she adds.
However, interested buyers had better move fast—all this demand is steadily pushing home prices skyward.
Read More via Realtor.com
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