Red-Hot Neighborhoods
Real estate experts dub Austin one of hottest markets in U.S. for 2018
It's getting close spring, the most popular time for homeowners to move, and Zillow has determined that Austin residents are about to have a lot of new neighbors.
The real estate website has named Austin one of the top 10 hottest housing markets for 2018, and provided a sneak peek at which neighborhoods are likely to see a surge in popularity this coming year.
Zillow scaled six variables for the 50 largest U.S. metros and combined them to form a "hotness" score. The data included:
- Zillow’s home value and rent forecasts, which predict the change in median home values and median estimated rents over the next 12 months
- Income and population growth using ACS 2015 and 2016 one-year estimates
- Current unemployment rates from the Bureau of Labor Statistics
- Glassdoor's estimated number of job openings per person
All that combines to place Austin at No. 6 in terms of "hotness." The Zillow home value forecast is 3.3 percent, while the typical household income is around $71,000 (somewhat low compared to other cities, but remember our low cost of living).
But what really wows are the stats surrounding our anticipated job growth: 47,430 jobs are projected to materialize next year. Zillow points out that we have one of the lowest unemployment rates among large cities, even as our population is growing faster than other major metros (it was at 2.8 percent between 2015 and 2016).
And what are the hottest 'hoods within Austin? Pecan Springs Springdale takes the top spot, with an anticipated 7.4 percent increase in home value appreciation. MLK (6.1 percent) is next, followed by Montopolis (5.7 percent), West Congress (5.2 percent), and Coronado Hills (4.7 percent).
Texas neighbor Dallas-Fort Worth also makes a good showing, landing at No. 10 overall. The third-highest home value forecast (4.7 percent) and a whopping 142,084 jobs — by far the most in the top 10 — highlight its attractiveness to new residents.
San Jose, California, tops the list of hottest markets for 2018, mainly because home values in the Silicon Valley hub gained 17.4 percent over the past year — the fastest growth among the 50 largest metro areas — and Glassdoor estimates that San Jose has 0.036 job openings per person, which is the highest rate among large U.S. metros. It’s also the only market with a median household income above $100,000.
Seattle (No. 3); San Francisco (No. 5); and Portland, Oregon (No. 9) help the West Coast dominate, while two cities in North Carolina — Raleigh (No. 2) and Charlotte (No. 4) — join Denver and Nashville to complete the top 10.
