Will Atlanta be the Hot Millennial Housing Market of 2016?

With 2016 only three weeks away, housing experts are still trying to figure out how to lure more Millennials into homeownership. Realtor.com has offered a distinctive way to figure out which major metro markets offer the best opportunity for Millennial homebuyers—and, of course, the mortgage professionals eager to work with them.
Combining the quantity of Millennials that viewed “For Sale” listing pages on Realtor.com with media list prices and the population share of older Millennials (ages 24 to 35) per market, Realtor.com named Atlanta as the best Millennial housing market for 2016. The Georgia city’s selling points include an affordable median list price ($234,000), a solid population share of older Millennials (13.6 percent) and vibrant opportunities for employment, affordable housing and social activities (which, it seems, are must-haves for this demographic). Other top markets include Pittsburgh, Memphis, Boston (perhaps a surprise listing, given its hefty $408,000 median list price), Austin, San Diego (another surprise listing, with a $585,000 list price), Seattle, Houston, Denver and Charlotte.
At the other end of the spectrum, Realtor.com singled out five markets where the number of mortgages purchased in 2015 by Millennials was below average and where few members of that demographic were actively looking on the company’s Web site. The bottom five were Jacksonville, Fla.; Phoenix; Port St.Lucie, Fla.; Spokane, Wash.; and Stockton, Calif.