The National Association of Realtors (NAR) has compiled a list of the top ten real estate markets that bear watching for the upcoming year. The ranking was unveiled at the NAR’s fourth annual year-end Real Estate Forecast Summit.

All ten metropolitan areas on the list are located within the South. These markets were selected due to ten economic indicators: 1) better housing affordability; 2) greater numbers of renters who can afford to buy a median-priced home; 3) stronger job growth; 4) faster growth of information industry jobs; 5) higher shares of the information industry in the respective local GDPs; 6) migration gains; 7) shares of workers teleworking; 8) faster population growth; 9) faster growth of active housing inventory; and 10) smaller housing shortages.

The markets expected to outperform the rest of US markets are, in order:

Atlanta, Georgia
Raleigh, North Carolina
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, Texas
Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers, Arkansas-Missouri
Greenville, South Carolina
Charleston, South Carolina
Huntsville, Alabama
Jacksonville, Florida
San Antonio, Texas
Knoxville, Tennessee

“The demand for housing continues to outpace supply,” said NAR’s Chief Economist, Lawrence Yun. “The economic conditions in place in the top 10 U.S. markets, all of which are located in the South, provide the support for home prices to climb by at least 5% in 2023.”

These conditions that make Huntsville among the top ten markets in the country are heartening even in the best of times. However, as BlackRock, the largest asset management firm in the world, warns of a recession of potentially spectacular scale on the horizon, they could prove all the more crucial for ensuring resilience to weather the storm.

The New Year promises to be an eventful one, and the Huntsville Business Journal will continue to keep its readership apprised of all the ups and downs in the real estate market.