The days when Austin was on top of every listicle of the “best place for everything” variety are quickly fading into history — an inevitable fall for which some residents, especially longtime residents, are breathing a tentative sigh of relief.
Nevertheless, the city still holds its own in the ranking arena: It’s still the 12th best real estate market in the nation and the third best housing market of the largest U.S. cities, according to a recent WalletHub report.
The study of real estate markets in 300 U.S. cities looked at 17 metrics, including median home price appreciation, the ratio of rent price to sale price, vacancy rates, housing and maintenance affordability, population, and job growth.
The Austin metro area’s rapid population growth in large part drove its placing in the rankings. Its jockeying for 10th and 11th place in the nation’s biggest cities combined with its relative affordability compared to most of the other U.S. cities with large populations resulted in a No. 3 in WalletHub’s ranking of housing markets in those cities.
In terms of the overall real estate market for all 300 cities WalletHub studied, Austin didn’t fare as well, placing 12th on that list.
On top were Dallas suburbs McKinney and Frisco, with scored the top two spots nationally, followed by Cary, North Carolina; Nashville, Tennessee; and Durham, North Carolina coming in third through fifth, respectively.
Also outshining Austin were Gilbert, Arizona (No. 6); Charlotte, North Carolina (No. 7); Denton, Texas (No. 8); Allen, Texas (No. 9); Port St. Lucie, Florida (No. 10); and Boise, Idaho (No. 11).
Texas cities that also made the top 100 are primarily in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex and include Richardson, Carrollton, Irving, Plano, Garland, Grand Prairie, Arlington, and Houston in descending order.
