The most vibrant housing markets of 2020 will be found south of the Mason-Dixon Line,
according to a new Zillow survey of more than 100 economists, investment strategists and real estate.
The survey is forecasting Austin, Texas as the most likely to see home value growth above that expected average this year, with 83 percent of the respondents predicting a strong 2020 for the Texas capital. Southern markets Charlotte, Atlanta and Nashville were also pegged for 2020 housing success, with Charlotte as the only market among the 25 analyzed in which none of the panelists said it would underperform.
Of the 14 markets with positive scores in the Zillow survey, 11 were either in Texas or another metro in in the Southeast or Southwest. The exceptions are Denver, Minneapolis and Portland. On the flip side, California was home to six of the 10 markets that the Zillow survey pegged for underperforming this year. On average, the survey respondents expected home values to grow by 2.8 percent in 2020.
"Having subjected buyers to a crucible of fierce competition for multiple years, many West Coast markets hit an affordability ceiling that set off declining home values in the most expensive of these," said Skylar Olsen, Zillow's director of economic research. "Indeed, this price correction—a clap back from having appreciated with too much exuberance in the recent past—pushes many previously hot markets to the bottom of our experts' list. At the top of the list are metros still providing relative affordability and thriving, amenity-rich communities that appeal to younger adults willing to make a move. These features, plus the ability to grow and add housing in the future, are attractive propositions for employers and employees alike."
