Where can home buyers find the most new homes?
“You have the markets where the population is moving, like North Carolina, Texas, and Florida,” says Robert Dietz, chief economist of the National Association of Home Builders. “And some surprising mountain states that are simply growing and growing.”
On the other hand, in some markets, such as coastal San Francisco and New City, there’s just few places left to build and the housing stock tends to be older. Also, in the Northwest, strict land use requirements mixed with high regulatory costs make it more difficult for developers to get land to build on compared to some Southern states. As such, the housing stock tends to be older there too.
Realtor.com®’s research team evaluated the 400 largest cities to find the locales with the highest percentage of for-sale homes that have been built since 2013. (Note: Realtor.com® limited its list to just two cities per state. Texas cities dominated with the highest number of new homes overall.)
The market topping its list was Meridian, Idaho, just west of Boise. Its population has bloomed from less than 35,000 in 2000 to more than 84,000 in 2015, thanks to a tech boom in the city. About a third of the city’s homes were built in the past three years.
“Meridian is going gangbusters,” says Mike Turner, a real estate pro and president of Front Street Brokers. “It’s located between the two biggest cities in Idaho, has plenty of jobs, and also has the space to grow.”
Overall, realtor.com®’s research team found the following cities have the most new homes for sale:
- Meridian, Idaho
- Edmond, Okla.
- College Station, Texas
- Fargo, N.D.
- Lincoln, Neb.
- Frisco, Texas
- Irvine, Calif.
- San Tan Valley, Ariz.
Meanwhile, the following cities offer the oldest homes for sale:
- Boston/Cambridge, Mass.
- Newark, N.J.
- Allentown, Pa.
- Hartford, Conn.
- Providence, R.I.
- Manchester, N.H.
- Grand Rapids, Mich.
- Chicago, Ill.
Source: “The Surprising Cities Where You’ll Find America’s Newest and Oldest Homes,” realtor.com® (Jan. 3, 2017)
