Total new-home closings: 1,889
Population: 571,460
The good: Every market indicator in early 2015 showed positive, along with outstandingly low unemployment.
The bad: With everything up in the first part of 2015—despite increased prices—there’s nothing to report here.
The bottom line: This market was tagged for take off in mid-2014 and, so far, that’s proving true in 2015.
In mid-2014, studies showed this second-tier market attracting a lot of attention from builders and developers, landing it 10th on Metrostudy’s Top Markets by Outlook rankings. And in early 2015, those predictions proved true. With unemployment rates at just 3% in March 2015 and foreclosures plus REOs accounting for only 9.4% of the existing homes market, this area’s momentum comes as no surprise. New-home closings jumped by 62.1% year over year in March 2015, following a 54.5% increase in February. At the same time, the percentage of new-home closings claimed by single-family dwellings rose, while the share of new homes as a percentage of overall closings increased to 21% from 15.1% a year earlier. With positive changes occurring even as the average price for new homes rose by 2.2%, 2015 is shaping up to be another big one for this little market.
