(MoneyforAgents.com) – Zillow has released a new analysis predicting that Buffalo, New York, will have the hottest property market this year despite being one of the snowiest cities in the country.
The real estate company examined various characteristics to identify the "hottest" market. It analyzed the top 50 metro areas in the United States.
This includes anticipated increases in home values between December 2023 and November 2024, the number of jobs available, the rate at which properties are selling, and other variables.
Buffalo topped the list because of its excellent career prospects and meager cost of living. Zillow's estimations place the current value of a typical property in Buffalo at $248,445, compared to the $347,415 national average.
A buyer in Buffalo would pay $1,792 a month for their mortgage if they put 5% down.
The ratio of newly produced jobs to newly constructed homes in Buffalo was one of the primary metrics employed by Zillow to gauge the area's anticipated housing demand.
According to Zillow, unless enough new homes are constructed to fulfill the demand, housing competition will heat up due to additional jobs, pushing home prices.
Buffalo is renowned for having harsh winters as well. The National Weather Service reports that Buffalo had 133.6 inches of snow during the 2022–2023 season.
Vienna Laurendi, president of the Buffalo Niagara Association of Realtors and an associate real estate broker with Howard Hanna Real Estate Services, told MarketWatch, "Although our temperatures are cold, our market is not."
Along with Rochester and Syracuse, Buffalo was recently named a federal technology cluster and is expected to get billions of dollars in federal assistance. In the upcoming year, the funds will be utilized to develop the area into a center for semiconductor manufacturing.
Along with being home to SUNY Buffalo State University and the University of Buffalo, the city is also a college town. Along with the Buffalo AKG Art Museum, Josh Allen and Dion Dawkins, two Buffalo Bills players, call it home.
Buffalo resident Laurendi remarked, "There is a lot of energy in both the city of Buffalo and the city of Niagara Falls."
According to Laurendi, Buffalo also boasts a sizable medical campus, attracting business from the medical community and the auxiliary organizations necessary for them.
She declared, "We are the largest little city in the country."
Laurendi added that there is great potential for constructing additional new residences in the city.
She told MarketWatch, "Our developers today are looking at older buildings and older infrastructure that are just begging for revitalization, and that is why we have an awful lot of underutilized land."
According to Laurendi, part of that work also entails examining abandoned factories and other structures that "have significant fantastic character and can be revitalized into something fabulous."
Zillow's ranking of the hottest housing markets in 2024 included other "hot" Midwest cities in second, third, and fourth place, mainly due to the far lower cost of properties in those areas. Cincinnati and Columbus, both in Ohio, and Indianapolis, Indiana, are among them.
Laurendi stated, "Now that the holidays are over, buyers are definitely coming back," mainly because mortgage rates are below 7%.
Buffalo, Cincinnati, and Columbus have property prices below the national average. In both Ohio cities, the average home is approximately $300,000, and a buyer making a 5% down payment would pay less than $2,200 per month for a mortgage.
According to Zillow, "owner-occupied home growth is expected to accelerate in Columbus and move at the fastest rate in Cincinnati, which is indicative of population growth and family formation."
Midwestern communities have topped real estate rankings for the past year because, among other things, homes there are relatively affordable and the pace of life is slower.
Anushna Prakash, data scientist for Zillow Economic Research, stated that "housing markets are healthiest where affordable home prices and strong employment are giving young hopefuls a real shot at buying and starting to build equity."
According to Zillow, Charlotte, North Carolina, had the best real estate market last year. In 2024, the city dropped to sixth place.
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