Texas makes up half the list of the 10 most attractive real estate markets nationwide, according to a new WalletHub study released Tuesday — and four out of those five are DFW suburbs.
The personal finance website compared 300 U.S. cities across 18 key metrics from median home-price appreciation to job growth and found that Frisco topped all markets with a score of 75.07 of a possible 90 points. Other Dallas suburbs in the top 10 are No. 4 McKinney (71.66 points), No. 5 Denton (71.49 points) and No. 6 Allen (69.35 points).
Austin also made the list, ranking second in the country with a score of 73.08.
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The Texas-dominated list suggests southern and southwestern states are in a strong position based on a formula that heavily weighted overall real estate environment, but also took into account affordability and economic environment. Rounding out the top 10 were No. 3 Gilbert, Arizona; No. 7 Durham, North Carolina; No. 8 Reno, Nevada; No. 9 Roseville, California; and No. 10 Nashville, Tennessee.
“2021 has represented a year of strengths in many financial areas. The stock market and bank account balances are up, while unemployment and interest rates are low,” Job Hammond, adjunct professor of real estate and finance at Austin Community College, said in response to the study. “These factors represent ideal conditions for the housing market, and as long as we continue to see shortages in housing inventory, we should still see an ideal environment for housing growth.”
The new findings mirror trends highlighted in newly released U.S. Census Bureau data showing that not only did Texas lead the nation in raw population growth between 2010 and 2020, it also added more housing units than any other state, defying a national trend toward shrinking housing development.
Much of that housing was built in the suburbs, reflecting surging population growth in areas surrounding urban centers. Two counties in the Dallas metro ranked second and third nationally among municipalities of between 250,000 and 500,000 people in terms of new housing units: Denton County, with an increase of 36%, and Collin County with 34.1% growth.
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