Dive Brief:
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Blue Springs, MO — a suburb of Kansas City, MO — again led HomeUnion's list of the best places for families with school-age children to live. The online real estate investment management firm selected the 30 markets on its list based on housing affordability and school quality.
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Midwestern and Southern markets led the list, with HomeUnion attributing the regions’ success to rising unaffordability along the West Coast.
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Oklahoma City and St. Louis rounded out the top three spots, while three California cities — Oakland, San Jose and San Francisco — were at the bottom of the list.
Dive Insight:
The Midwest and Southern U.S. are a draw for buyers seeking housing affordability and relatively stable markets. Pittsburgh, Oklahoma City and Omaha, NE, were among the best housing markets for new buyers, according to a recent report by SmartAsset. Texas led the SmartAsset list, with seven of the state's cities in the top 25 and three cracking the top 10 based on the stability of markets there and the high volume of mortgage lenders.
A separate report from Bankrate cited affordability, employment prospects, inventory conditions, credit availability and millennial homeownership rates as reasons why entry-level buyers should look to the Midwest and mountain West for housing. Iowa topped the list, followed by Utah, Minnesota, Kansas and Missouri. In addition to lower median housing costs, these smaller, more affordable markets are attracting buyers with minimal traffic congestion and low taxes.
The Midwest will likely remain attractive to entry-level buyers, as corporate relocations to the region continue to bring employment opportunities and demand for new homes along with them. Whether the local builders and developers can inject the new inventory required to meet that demand is still to be determined. In Northeast Ohio, for example, home sales have been sluggish this spring due to a lack of inventory to meet demand, driving up prices and making owners there wary of attempting to trade up.