More young home buyers are turning to relatively affordable cities that have jobs. Houston is one of those markets that fit this description, which bodes well for the metro’s housing market in 2016.
According to a ranking from Realtor.com, Houston will be the eighth hottest market for millennial (age 25 to 34) buyers next year.
Millennials currently comprise 14.4 percent of Houston’s population, with the metro seeing a 49 percent increase in its percentage of college graduates spanning 2000 to 2012.
Of the top 10 most attractive markets for millennial buyers Houston ranked as the fifth most affordable, with a median list price of $312,000.
After several years of noticeable price appreciation, home price gains are projected to be largely flat through September 2016, according to CoreLogic. This is good news for millennial buyers that previously could not compete for homes because of rates of appreciation.
Housing 26 Fortune 500 companies, Houston is considered by some to be the nation’s top urban job creator, another reason the metro’s millennial population should expand next year.
Walkability is another important factor for millennials and while Houston is a car-dependent city there exist “walkable” neighborhoods that feature transit options and bike infrastructure. According to Walk Score, these neighborhoods include Downtown Houston, Fourth Ward, Greenway-Upper Kirby, Neartown-Montrose and Midtown.
Austin represents another Texas market likely to see more millennial buyers next year, as realtor.com ranked it as the fifth hottest metro.
These rankings are based on realtor.com’s 2016 sales and price projections, the representation of millennial users among viewers of for sale listing pages on realtor.com from July to October, and the share of head of households aged 25 to 34 relative to all heads of households.
