10 September . 2019
Austin is a top city for homebuyers in 2 new studies
Austin is the No. 1 large city in the U.S. for homebuyers, according to a new report from WalletHub, which evaluated 300 cities across the nation using 23 metrics for the local real estate market and the economic environment.
Real estate market metrics included home values, price appreciation, number of days on the market, and the share of newer homes. WalletHub also scored cities on the “buy vs. rent breakeven horizon,” defined as the point in time at which buying a home becomes less expensive than renting the same home.
Economic environment metrics included housing affordability, maintenance affordability, and growth rates for the population and jobs. WalletHub defined large cities as those with a population of more than 300,000.
Another study, by SmartAsset, ranks Austin No. 2 in Texas as a top housing market for growth and stability in 2019. Nationally, Austin ranks No. 3 in this report.
SmartAsset explains that growth is a measure of how much the value of a home is likely to increase over time, while stability measures the risk that a home will experience a major loss of value.
SmartAsset says that homebuyers can predict growth and stability based on the location of their home, and that’s great news for homeowners in the Austin-Round Rock-Georgetown metropolitan area.
In the analysis, home values in the Austin metro area grew by 242% between 1994 and 2018. As for stability, SmartAsset says homes in the Austin area have a 0% chance of falling by at least 5% in value within 10 years of purchase.
SmartAsset analyzed data from the Federal Housing Administration to come up with its growth and stability rankings. Texas dominated the 2019 list from SmartAsset, with three metro areas in the top 10, and 10 spots in the top 20.