Repeat After Me: Texas is the Best Place to Buy a Home Right Now

Austin, of course! 

I feel like I type this sentence so much into our CMS we ought to just make it a permanent keystroke. Yes, we know this, and we keep hearing it. Among the four Texas locations that made the list, Dallas ranks number 6 nationally. San Antonio beat us probably for lower prices and our higher real estate taxes, although taxes on MY San Antonio property are going up, too. I tell you, the real estate taxes are really hosing us.

Austin tops the list with the best place to buy in the country, because of economic growth and jobs, and the fact that it’s basically becoming California Light.

“The capital of Texas boasts the highest long-term job growth and the second-highest economic growth numbers among the top 12,” says the article by SelfStorage.com moving blog.

SelfStorage  (yeah, SelfStorage!) looked at long-term economic and job growth, availability of new housing, home cost ratios to salary ratios, price increases and even real estate taxes:

For the 60 biggest metro areas in the U.S., we looked at all these factors, in addition to recent price increases, to determine the 12 Best Places to Buy a Home. For the economic and job growth metrics, we took the long view: the compound annual growth rate in each metro area over a 10-year period.

Specifically, we examined:

• Long-term economic growth, in terms of the compound annual growth rate in inflation-adjusted GDP from 2003 to 2013.

• Long-term job growth, in terms of the compound annual growth rate in the total number of jobs from 2003 to 2013.

• Availability of relatively new housing, as measured by the percentage of total housing units built in 2000 or later.

• Cost premium, as measured by the ratio of the local median home value to the local median income. Comparing the price of a home to the buyer’s annual income is a common way to determine affordability. Exact recommendations vary, but a home that costs about three times the buyer’s annual income generally is considered affordable.

• Recent price increases, as measured by the percentage change in median sale prices from 2012 to 2014. Recent increases indicate buyers might see the value of their homes increase soon after buying.

• Real estate taxes, as measured by real estate taxes paid per capita.

Home prices are still relatively affordable in Austin, but real estate taxes are higher here than any other city on the list.  Houston still ranks No. 2 despite the lagging oil industry but I expect that will change next year IF oil prices don’t scoot back up.