SAN ANTONIO – The National Association of Realtors named San Antonio among its “hidden gems” for 2022 — meaning home prices here are expected to appreciate at a higher rate than most other markets.
That’s good news for realtors and sellers, but it might not be for many buyers.
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Home prices in San Antonio are up nearly 20% over one year ago and in October, the median price of a home exceeded $300,000 for the first time ever.
The NAR predicts housing prices across the country will climb 5.7% next year — significantly less of an increase than in 2021 — but believes San Antonio will experience stronger price appreciation relative to other markets.
Here’s a list of their “hidden gem” cities in alphabetical order:
- Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas
- Daphne-Fairhope-Foley, Alabama
- Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers, Arkansas-Missouri
- Huntsville, Alabama
- Knoxville, Tennessee
- Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, Florida
- Pensacola-Ferry Pass-Brent, Florida
- San Antonio-New Braunfels, Texas
- Spartanburg, South Carolina
- Tucson, Arizona
The hidden gem designation from NAR was based on the following two categories:
- If the market’s ratio of median home price to median family income is in the lower half of the 379 metro areas analyzed.
- If the following seven indicators reflecting the strength of housing demand for that market are in the upper half of metro areas – wage growth, job growth, ratio of the change in population to the sum of housing permits, population growth, net domestic migration, percentage of the population ages 25 to 44, and the percentage of households with broadband service.
“The housing sector performed spectacularly in 2021 in many markets, with huge gains achieved in places like Austin, Boise and Naples,” Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist and senior vice president of research said in a press release. “Several markets did reasonably well in 2021, but not as strong as the underlying fundamentals suggested. Therefore, in 2022, these ‘hidden gem’ markets have more room for growth.”
It’s also expected to be more expensive to finance a home in 2022 compared to this year. The NAR said top economic and housing experts are predicting two quarter-point interest rate hikes by the Fed in 2022.
A 30-year fixed mortgage rate is predicted to increase to 3.5%, which would still be lower than the pre-pandemic rate of 4%.