While speculative real estate investing may not be much safer than hitting the casino it is certainly nice to know that the area you are investing in is rising in value or is predicted to do so. You should definitely lock in profits when you buy but why not take all the extra cushion and income you can?
One great indication of rising home prices today is new construction. Areas seeing the most new construction signal areas with lower inventory levels and forced increase in prices as new homes must be sold for more than existing ones due to the current cost of building. So these may also be good areas for your real estate investing to be focused.
According to Zillow and US News & World Report the following cities have seen the most new construction activity in the last quarter:
Houston, TX
Dallas, TX
Raleigh, TX
Omaha, NE
Austin, TX
Salt Lake City, UT
Charleston, SC
San Antonio, TX
Tacoma, WA
Now before everyone rushes off to Texas to start real estate investing, note that Realtor Mag also recently published a list of top 10 cities where median listing prices are rising the fastest. That doesn’t necessarily mean homes there are rising that fast in value but it may be a more immediate indicator of rising values than construction which can take a while to kick in. Interestingly 7 of these top 10 cities are all in Florida.
Take a look:
Fort Myers
Miami
Naples
Sarasota
Punta Gorda
Lakeland/ Winter Haven
Daytona Beach
While the above cities may offer great opportunities for real estate investing you can certainly find deals no matter where you are in the country. Plus some of the worst hit areas which are still trending down or flattening out may actually deliver the sharpest jumps in value when they bounce back.
