A Dozen States Dominate Top Year-End Real Estate Markets - Including Texas

It appears that real estate investment has headed south for the winter, this according to year-end data compiled by Local Market Monitor, the national real estate forecaster, and HomeVestors of America (the "We Buy Ugly Houses"® people) with Texas, North Carolina and Florida ending 2014 as sure bets for single-family investment property markets.

"The real estate markets that made the top 20 list for investing were chosen based on population growth and it's near cousin, job growth - both conditions ideal for investing in single family homes," said Ingo Winzer, president and founder of Local Market Monitor. "In all of the top 20 markets, the populations increased by more than double the national average of one percent."

The top 20 markets for real estate investing are:

1. Austin-Round Rock, TX
2. Houston-Baytown-Sugar Land, TX
3. Raleigh-Cary, NC
4. Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro, TN
5. Orlando, FL
6. Boise City-Nampa, ID
7. San Antonio, TX
8. Denver-Aurora, CO
9. Charlotte-Gastonia-Concord, NC
10. North Port-Bradenton-Sarasota, FL
11. Oklahoma City, OK
12. Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, AZ
13. Seattle-Bellevue-Everett, WA
14. Dallas-Plano-Irving, TX
15. Oakland-Fremont-Hayward, CA
16. Fort Worth-Arlington, TX
17. Las Vegas-Paradise, NV
18. Salt Lake City, UT
19. San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA
20. San Francisco-San Mateo-Redwood City, CA

"Texas has always been a sweet spot for real estate investing. Its economy is strong, and only getting stronger. This is spurring population and job growth, especially among younger workers looking for work in retail, business and tourism. They are looking to rent, not buy a home," noted David Hicks, HomeVestors co-president.

Along with job growth and population growth, relatively low home prices is a factor making investments in single-family homes as rental properties a low risk opportunity in some markets. The average home prices in the top 10 markets are under $300,000, although the markets listed among the top 20 range from $166,000 to $844,000.

Despite high home prices, a few California markets made the top 20, including Oakland-Fremont-Hayward (15), San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara (19) and the San Francisco Bay area (20).

"There is definitely opportunity to strike gold in the California market for real estate investing. With some notable exceptions, they're growing again - both in jobs and in population - as is clear by double-digit home price increases," explained HomeVestors co-president Ken Channel. "But investors in these markets are likely to see more of their gain come from price appreciation and less from a long-term rental stream, because most of these markets are no longer under-priced."

About the Quarterly Data:

The data identifies markets that will be good rental markets and where home prices are likely to increase at a good rate over the next few years.  Criteria include markets where:

• The population has been growing at above-average rates (4% or better) with growth coming from people moving there in search of jobs;
• The current rate of job growth of 2% or better; and
• There is low unemployment, so that new jobs will be filled by people who move there, not by unemployed people who are already there.

Markets are excluded that:

• Have a small population because they don't have stable economies.