Wall Street Journal- Quarterly Report on Real Estates Top Selling Markets

As expected, the spring housing market is booming in central Ohio. Mortgage rates have dipped, and housing transactions and building activity has been surging since February. Some buyers are asking if this trend will continue, or are we potentially in a housing bubble that may burst?

The answer of course varies market area to market area. The primarily factor to watch is to a simple matter of supply and demand. How many new buyers are moving into the market, compared to how many new homes are being built? Other important factors include affordability, median days-on-the-market, and several indicators of economic health and quality of life, such as appealing amenities and plenty of jobs that pay good salaries.

The quarterly Wall Street Journal/Realtor.com Emerging Housing Markets Index, released in April, analyzes all of these factors, and identifies the most popular cities that are drawing new homebuyers in droves. Interestingly, none of the markets are on the west coast, the region notorious for high housing prices. Instead, people are moving to smaller metro areas with more affordable home prices.

Columbus Ohio, for the seventh consecutive quarter, has again made the “Top Twenty” list, coming in at number twelve.

Here are the top 20 Up-and-Coming Real Estate markets attracting home buyers in the spring of 2023, according to the Wall Street Journal Emerging Housing Markets Index, along with their average sales price.

1 Lafayette, Indiana $289,000
2 Bloomington, Illinois $339,000
3 Elkhart-Goshen, Indiana $275,000
4 Lebanon, Pennsylvania $372,000
5 Fort Wayne, Indiana $339,000
6 Topeka, Kansas $249,000
7 Sioux City, IA-NE-SD $305,000
8 Omaha-Council Bluffs, NE-IA $345,000
9 Springfield, Illinois $144,000
10 Manchester-Nashua, New Hampshire $550,000
11 Janesville-Beloit, Wisconsin $331,000
12 Columbus, Ohio $375,000
13 La Crosse-Onalaska, WI-MN $334,000
14 Johnson City, Tennessee $413,000
15 Springfield, Ohio $172,000
16 Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton, North Carolina $349,000
17 Burlington, North Carolina $368,000
18 Columbia, Missouri $367,000

19 Waterloo-Cedar Falls, Iowa $263,000
20 Knoxville, Tennessee $470,000

What Does This Mean For Home Values?

For homeowner this list of emerging markets is worth keeping an eye on, since an influx of home buyers in an area leads to rising home prices and rents. Furthermore, most of these cities are still more affordable than the national median home listing price, providing investors an opportunity to break into the market.

For the full article, please go to https://www.realtor.com/research/april-2023-wsj-rdc-
emerging-housing-markets-index/

Kyle Alfriend is the managing partner of The Alfriend Group of Re/Max Achievers. He
has represented buyers, sellers, and investors for over 35 years, helping over 3,000
satisfied clients. He is also an active investor in long term and short rentals in multiple
states.