HOUSTON – (By Dale King, Realty News Report) – Young folks hoping to settle down in their own dwelling, despite the prevailing coronavirus pandemic, should set their sights on three Texas metros – Houston among them – and their suburban communities.
The National Association of Realtors has identified 10 American markets with “favorable conditions for millennial homebuyers during the coronavirus pandemic.”
Alphabetically, the first is Austin-Round Rock, Texas; the second is Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, Texas and the fifth is Houston-The Woodlands area.
“Record-low mortgage rates have improved housing affordability, bringing more buyers into the market, and multiple offers for starter homes could become common in these metro areas,” said NAR’s Chief Economist Lawrence Yun.
“With relatively better employment conditions and a strong presence of millennials in these markets, more new home construction will be required to fully satisfy the housing demand as the economy reopens.”
NAR identified the top 10 metro areas for millennial homebuyers by analyzing current housing affordability, local job market conditions during the coronavirus pandemic, the share of millennials in the area and inventory availability in the largest 100 metropolitan statistical areas across the country.
Austin, Dallas, Houston and their suburban environs displayed a definitive millennial-centric bend, said the Realtor association.
Nationally, millennials make up the largest share of homebuyers and these metropolitan areas, in particular, offer great opportunities to realize the dream of homeownership,” said NAR President Vince Malta, broker at Malta & Co., Inc., in San Francisco. Millennials will take the lead in pulling the real estate market out of its COVID-19-induced funk.
According to April 2020 employment data, the job rate declined by an average of nearly 13% in the largest 100 metro areas compared to last year.
The 10 leading markets listed also had a smaller share of workers whose jobs were impacted by pandemic-induced economic lockdown. For example, in Houston and Austin, 19% and 20% of employees, respectively, work in industries at high risk from coronavirus. The average for the largest 100 metros is 21%.
Another common factor among these markets is better-than-average inventory availability. For Des Moines and Omaha, the number of active listings in April 2020 increased by 5% and 1%, respectively, according to realtor.com. However, inventory declined 18% on average in the largest 100 metro areas.
Besides housing inventory, the top 10 communities have lots of youthful potential home buyers. Three in 10 residents of Dallas-Fort Worth as well as Houston-The Woodlands are millennials, as are 35% in Austin-Round Rock. With young bloods making up the largest cohort of homebuyers, these areas are expected to see many of their millennial residents become homeowners.
Across the nation, the typical household can afford to buy 40% of thehomes currently listed for sale compared to 34% a year earlier, says the Realtors Affordability Distribution Score. In the 10 top-ranked markets, affordability increased more this year than it did nationwide. For example, a household earning $100,000 in Dallas can afford to buy 56% of homes currently listed for sale compared to 45% last year.
NAR’s Top 10 markets with favorable conditions for millennial homebuyers during the coronavirus pandemic. In alphabetical order, the markets are:
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Austin-Round Rock, Texas
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Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, Texas
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Des Moines-West Des Moines, Iowa
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Durham-Chapel Hill-Raleigh, North Carolina
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Houston-The Woodlands, Texas
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Indianapolis-Carmel-Anderson, Indiana
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Omaha, Nebraska/Council Bluffs, Iowa
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Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, Arizona
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Portland, Oregon/Vancouver, Washington
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Salt Lake City, Utah