Top 10 Best Cities for Home Sellers

Source: Forbes.com, Matt Woolsey, 04.07.08

Four factors are widely seen as affecting whether a housing market is a good one for sellers: job growth, amount of new construction, vacancy rates, and credit availability.

Forbes magazine used a variety of resources to determine how the country’s 40 largest metro areas fared according to these measures. The result is this list of top 10 cities for sellers:

-San Jose, Calif. Because of a tough regulatory environment, new home construction dropped 63 percent last year.

-San Francisco. When the conforming loan limit recently jumped from $417,000 to the maximum $729,750, that made credit much easier to get for many of the city’s home buyers.

-Salt Lake City. The 3 percent annual job growth rate, paired with a declining inventory of existing homes and one of the nation’s sharpest declines in construction made this market a good one for sellers.

-Austin, Texas. Texas is very affordable, plus the city has the nation’s fastest job growth at 4.1 percent.

-Kansas City, Mo. The number of unsold, vacant houses dropped by 40 percent last year.

-San Antonio, Texas. Jobs are growing by 3 percent and construction starts have dropped by 42 percent.

-Denver. The 49 percent drop in construction starts paired with the 2 percent rise in new jobs are good news for sellers.

-Providence, R.I. Vacancy rates at 1.6 percent combined with a 42 percent cut in inventory help sellers.

-Charlotte, N.C. Moderate prices and strong job growth bode well for sellers.

-Seattle, Wash. Strong job growth and a 42 percent decrease in new home construction are good news for sellers.

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