A recent report into the US property market faces 3 Florida metro areas in the top five hottest spots for property investment. Orlando, Fort Lauderdale and Palm Beach County dominate the listings compiled for this autumn. Other Florida metros such as Miami, Tampa and Jacksonville also rank in the top 20.
The online property portal Auction.com releases quarterly reports for the top markets for housing in the US ranking the 50 largest metro areas based on their economic performance and property market trends. The report for autumn this year places Seattle in first place with Central New Jersey at the bottom.
Based on economic metrics looking at job creation, unemployment levels and population growth in tandem with latest statistics from the US property market, the Top Housing Markets Fall 2015 report claims that market conditions generally are improvingd. It finds that continued job creation, wage growth and low oil prices have “helped spur the US housing market recovery, which is showing encouraging signs of life”.
The top five hottest markets at the moment are Seattle, Fort Lauderdale, Orlando, Palm Beach County and Portland (Oregon). Auction.com reports that the best markets for US property are predominantly the southeast and northeast of the country – not for nothing are the top five markets all in Florida or the Pacific Northwest.
This can be clearly seen in the ‘heat’ graph below where dark green shows the strongest markets and red the weakest. The southeast has the highest concentration of dark green and by extension, best markets.
For Auction.com, the top five markets share several common denominators. These include consistently rising house prices, strong demand and favourable affordability against a background of excellent economic and demographic conditions. The combination of these factors ensures future demand, one of the fundamentals behind successful property investment.
Seattle job opportunities
The capital of Washington State stands out at the top of the autumn ranking for its economy and strong housing market. Prices for property in Seattle rose by 10.9 per cent over the year with sales shooting up by 12.6 per cent. The report highlights the strong job creation in the city – up 3.6 per cent this year – and its very low unemployment, currently at 3.6 per cent and one of the lowest in the country.
Florida economy revitalised
The inclusion of three Florida property markets in the top five is, says Auction.com, a result of the revitalisation of their economies. “The three Florida markets have made significant progress as they emerge from a region that was notably devastated by the housing bust,” says the report, adding that they “display further growth opportunities as fundamentals still sit below pre-recession levels.”
Three other metro areas in the Sunshine State also ranked high outside the top five. Property in Miami sits in 13th position while Tampa and Jacksonville were placed in 15th and 17th place respectively.
Fort Lauderdale: While property statistics in this popular Florida metro are not as impressive as those in Seattle, Orlando or Palm Beach County, Fort Lauderdale has experienced a strong increase in employment over the last year. Unemployment has recently dropped to below 5 per cent for the first time since 2008 and Auction.com reports that the property in this Florida metro area has made “a swift recovery”.
Orlando: Here, it’s all about the local economy, which Auction.com claims is “white hot”. Orlando is seeing all-time highs in employment creation and population growth. Jobs in the leisure and hospitality sector have increased by 6.3 per cent in a year and new residents in Orlando have been arriving at a rate of at least 2 per cent for the last three years. This booming economic activity has also been experienced in the Orlando property market where prices have risen by 9 per cent and sales by 9.9 per cent. “Orlando’s robust economy and demographics will continue feeding into the growth of its housing market,” concludes the report.
Palm Beach County: Like Orlando and Fort Lauderdale, Palm Beach County has a strong jobs market where the professional services sector stands out with an 8 per cent increase in 12 months. It registered the second highest price increase in the country with property in Palm Beach County going up by a massive 14.8 per cent.
Source: Auction.com
