Realtor.com®, a leading online real estate stop operated by News Corp subsidiary Move, Inc., recently released the 10 leading suburban hotspots in America. First place is sealed by Northeast/Montbello, Colo. (a suburb of Denver); Wylie/St. Paul, Texas (a suburb of Dallas); and Dublin/Dougherty, Calif. (a suburb of San Francisco). Fueled by escalating prices and demand in their surrounding urban areas, each ‘burb on the list has become a focal point for increasing prices, quick home sales, and tenacious competition among buyers.
“Suburbs are traditionally viewed as meccas for young families, willing to trade in shorter commute times and urban nightlife for better schools and larger homes,” said Jonathan Smoke, chief economist. “In recent years, rising home prices and inventory shortages in urban centers have made affordable suburban home prices more appealing for buyers. Our analysis indicates 50 percent of buyers planning to purchase a home this spring indicated they preferred a home in the suburbs.”
The key aspects that drove the popularity of the suburbs that made the list are their short distance to urban centers and robust household growth. Realtor.com also classified ZIP codes in 50 of the nation’s biggest metropolitan areas as either suburban or urban, based on household densities. Suburbs were then ranked based on a cumulative score of household growth, listing price growth and housing supply and demand.
The suburbs on the list are located just outside urban centers that are 20 percent hotter than the average metro, where homes are viewed 1.4 more times than the average home included in the study. Additionally, these suburban hotspots have seen an average of 18.8 percent household growth over the last seven years, which is 2.4 and 2.8 times more growth than other suburban and urban neighborhoods, respectively.
As a result, these suburbs rank in the top 8 percent of hottest ZIP codes in the country and homes in these areas received 1.6 times more views on realtor.com than the typical home in the study. Listings sell 11 days and 9 days quicker than other suburban and urban areas; homes also receive 1.3 times more views on realtor.com than other suburban and urban neighborhoods in the area. Listing prices have seen an average of 16.9 percent growth, annually, over the last three years, and homes sell 2.5 and 1.9 times faster than all other suburban and urban neighborhoods, respectively.
Realtor.com®’s Top 10 Suburban Hotspots
1. Northeast/Montbello, Denver, Colo. – 80239 Metro: Denver-Aurora-Lakewood This up-and-coming neighborhood sits northeast of Denver and comprises a small part of Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge. Homes in the area received 1.7 times more views on realtor.com® than the typical home. Prices in this ‘burb grew 20.6 percent annually over the last three years.
2. Wylie/St. Paul, Texas – 75098 Metro: Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington The community of Wylie/St. Paul is a mix of first-time home buyers, young families, as well as established professionals. A typical property within this ‘burb spent 41 days on the market, 18 days less than the typical property in the study. Homes in Wylie received 2.4 times more views on realtor.com® than a typical home. The listing price of properties in this ZIP code grew 18.7 percent annually over the last three years.
3. Dublin/Dougherty, Calif. – 94568 Metro: San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward This is a Bay Area suburb, is located south of Oakland and east of Hayward. Due to the higher costs of the Bay Area, it is predominantly made up of upper-middle class families that are first-time home owners. A typical property within this ‘burb spent 24 days on the market in 2016, 35 days less than the typical property and received 2.1 times more views than the rate of the study.
4. Daffan/Hornsby Bend, Texas – 78724 Metro: Austin-Round Rock This suburb sits just east of Austin, and includes Walter E. Long Lake. A typical property within this ‘burb spent 45 days on the market, 14 days less than the typical property in the study. The listing price of properties in this area grew 27.1 percent annually over the last three years, placing this neighborhood second on the list of ZIPs with the highest price growth in the Austin metro area.
5. Orient Park/Progress Village/Palm River-Clair Mel, Fla. – 33619 Metro: Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater This working-class suburb is located between Tampa and Brandon. A typical property within this suburb spent 47 days on the market in 2016, 12 days less than the typical property in the study. The listing price of properties in this ‘burb grew at an annualized rate of 19.8 percent over the last three years.
6. Vista East/Vista Park, Fla. – 32829 Metro: Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, Fla. Vista East/Vista Park is a suburb that is located southeast of Orlando, less than 10 miles away from Orlando International Airport. Many of the U.S.’s best theme parks are also right down the road, with Disney World and Universal within a 30 minute drive. The listing price of properties in this suburb grew 13.8 percent annually between 2013 and 2016.
7. Cutler Bay/Lakes by the Bay – 33189 Metro: Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, Fla. This community sits just south of Miami and north of the Florida Keys. The number of households in this neighborhood grew by 12.3 percent between 2010 and 2017. A typical property within this suburb spent 50 days on the market in 2016, nine days less than the typical property in the study. The listing price of properties in this suburb grew 16.3 percent annually over the last three years.
8. Milpitas, Calif. – 95035 Metro: San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, Calif. Milpitas is a suburb just north of San Jose, close to the southernmost tip of the Bay. A typical property within this suburb spent 23 days on the market, 36 days less than the typical property in the study. The listing price of properties in this suburb grew 12.8 percent annually between 2013 and 2016.
9. Williamsburg/Waterhill/White Haven/Blackman, Tenn. – 37129 Metro: Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro-Franklin, Tenn. This suburb sits southeast of “Music City” and includes part of the Fall Creek recreation area. The area is home to a middle-class community on the rise. The number of households in this neighborhood grew by 16.3 percent between 2010 and 2017. A typical property within this suburb spent 34 days on the market in 2016, 25 days less than the typical property in the study. The listing price of properties in this suburb grew 14.0 percent over the last three years, annually.
10. Friendship/Apex, N.C. – 27502 Metro: Raleigh, N.C. The Apex/Friendship area is a suburb just west of Raleigh. It is currently booming with new construction due to the large numbers of people flocking to the area. A typical property within this suburb spent 41 days on the market in 2016, 18 days less than the typical property in the study. The listing price of properties in this suburb grew at an annualized rate of 11.6 percent between 2013 and 2016.
Methodology: Realtor.com® classified ZIP codes in the nation’s 50 largest metropolitan areas as suburban or urban based on their household densities. The remaining ZIP codes were classified as either rural or town and excluded from this analysis. Household growth data is based on Nielsen estimates of ZIP code-level growth between 2010 and 2017 and listing price growth was derived from realtor.com’s listing database for properties from 2013 to the end of 2016. The hotness scores examined were derived from realtor.com’s Market Hotness Index, which combines listing view counts and days spent on the market to rank ZIP codes relative to the rest of the country. One ZIP code was included for each metropolitan area.
Photos courtesy realtor.com
