Zillow dropped some big news in mid-December, Manchester is the most viewed city in the country of 2024 (link here), continuing a trend from 2023 when it was the third on that list, Nashua was second in 2023 (link here). In general smaller metro areas in New England have been dominating Zillow’s list for the past couple of years.
THIS IS GOOD NEWS…..RIGHT?
It depends on your perspective. If you’re looking to buy a home in New England, you’re probably not thrilled to know you’re in the most competitive market in the country. However, the silver lining is that you can convince yourself to push your budget a little, knowing that your house value is more likely to go up in value than any other area of the U.S. If you're a real estate investor, maybe you're not thrilled about the increase in property values, and concerned about compressed cap rates but it's never bad to be investing in a hot market.
More and more homebuyers (and renters) are moving to areas outside big cities, showing a big shift in the real estate market. For example, Manchester, which had a 7.3% increase in home values to $415,000, shows that people want more affordable options compared to large cities. The rise of Northeast and Midwest cities in popularity shows a bigger trend, with remote work and affordability being key factors.
The data shows that buyers are choosing smaller cities where living costs are lower but they can still be close to major job centers. This likely will lead to higher prices as demand keeps growing faster than supply.
For investors, this shift in where people are buying homes creates opportunities in regional markets. However, a shortage of available homes might limit the number of transactions. Overall, this trend could lead to long-term changes in the housing market that affect how investors approach residential real estate, but they’ll need to believe this is a permanent shift and not a temporary one before diving in.
As always, we’re looking for 3-50 unit properties in Southern New Hampshire. If you know if anyone looking to sell, we’d love to talk to them.
Thanks for reading,
Steve Parry