Trying to find the next hot real estate market? Make your way to the Midwest

Investors and homebuyers searching for the prospective top real estate markets should travel west, namely to the Midwest. According to the quarterly Wall Street Journal/Realtor.com® Emerging Housing Markets Index, seven of the top ten emerging housing markets in the country are smaller cities in the middle of the country with robust economies and more reasonably priced houses for sale. The index examines the real estate markets that analysts predict will do well in the months to come.

Per Realtor.com Chief Economist Danielle Hale, these markets provide great real estate deals when compared to other parts of the country. Home prices continue to rise year over year, remaining high. Despite being lower than their peaks, mortgage rates are still expensive. Inflation has put pressure on budgets.

Therefore, purchasers are searching for affordability, and they mostly succeed there as well as in several areas of the Midwest, South, and Northeast. According to Hale, these are markets where job seekers may obtain employment.

Out of the 300 biggest metropolitan areas, the index determined the best markets for investors and purchasers. It examines metropolitan areas with a high demand for housing and growing prices together with strong economies, a large number of well-paying jobs, a high standard of living, and desired features like a large number of small companies and manageable commute times to work. Property taxes, the proportion of people who were born abroad, and the median number of days residences spend on the market before selling were also taken into account. (Metros cover the major city, its suburbs, and other nearby towns and cities.)

In contrast to previous fall, none of these marketplaces were located in the expensive Western region of the country. In actuality, Indiana was home to all three of the top developing markets.

The top rank on the list was given to the Lafayette, IN, metropolitan area located approximately an hour northwest of Indianapolis and two hours southeast of Chicago. Purdue University is located in the metro area, along with a thriving industrial sector with companies like Subaru, Caterpillar, and Wabash National Corp., which among other things manufactures refrigerated truck trailers.

A further attraction is accessible housing. Homebuyers find the metro appealing since the typical list price of a property in December was $299,900, which is almost $100,000 less than the national average. The increase in housing inventory — up 58.7% year over year — is excellent news for buyers. Additionally, properties in the metro area are staying on the market for 20 more days. However, when compared to a year ago, prices were up 33.3% in December.

In the Lafayette metro area, around two-thirds of those wanting to buy a property are from outside of the country. Online traffic comes from Chicago, Indianapolis, and New York City around half of the time. Hale anticipates that the region around Lafayette's manufacturing industry will continue to drive up housing demand.

Following the delays and issues with obtaining items from abroad, after the [COVID-19] pandemic, there is an emphasis on reconsidering far-flung global supply networks, adds Hale. Over the next couple of years, we'll see a trend where there will be more focus on domestic producers.