Builder’s Healthiest Housing Markets 2009

The economic crisis influenced most house builders, contractors and sellers. Homebuilding industry is far from flourishing. Nevertheless, there are still quite healthy housing markets in the USA. The Builder Magazine together with Hanley Wood Market Intelligence presented their list of the healthiest house building markets with best potential in 2009.

With the top 75 house markets of the country being analyzed, only 15 are left to get in the list. Main criteria included population growth rates, employment rate, job growth, housing demand and building permit issue rate. Besides, the fluctuation of house prices was taken into consideration.

The research showed that most of the top 15 house markets experienced neither rapid price growth during the boom, nor deep-down deflation during the bust. So, the healthiest housing markets have had quite stable home prices. And most of them are also great places to live-being near the ocean, or mountains, or major universities.

The list starts with Myrtle Beach, SC which is rated `5th healthiest housing market. The rating includes such places as Wilmington, NC, Denver CO, Seattle WA. It also includes cities in Texas – Dallas, San Antonio, Fort Worth, Austin and Houston, which is rates number one healthiest housing market in the USA.

The list of the top 15 healthiest housing markets also provides the information about average house prices on the markets.

The highest median house prices are in Washington D.C. (number 10 in the list), which is called “a relatively unaffordable place to live” with a price $343,000 last year, and in Seattle, WA (# 7 in the list) with the price over $350,000.On the whole, average house prices amount to about $200,000. “Ultra-affordable housing” is in Indianapolis, IN, costing only $111,200.

At the same time, the rating presents a list of busiest house builders almost for every top market and information about big building companies entering or leaving the markets.

The weakest Housing Markets in the USA are also listed.

More information you can find at www.builderonline.com

November 08, 2009