The 10 most popular housing markets of early 2022

June 12, 2022 7:52 PM

Homebuyers fleeing crowded urban life during the pandemic found reprieve in the nation’s suburbs, and their migration has turned some of those markets into the nation’s hottest.

Remote and hybrid work models have empowered workers to move within a short drive of city centers and the shift in demand has caused suburban prices to skyrocket. Ten suburbs topped Zillow’s ranking of the most popular markets in early 2022, where home values grew at a faster rate than those in the main city within their metropolitan area.

“How many employers continue to allow this flexibility for employees to live where they choose will go a long way toward determining which markets are most in-demand in the future," said Nicole Bachaud, Zillow economist in a press release.

Zillow’s report analyzed page view traffic, home value growth and for-sale inventory for more than 1,000 cities. Eight of the suburbs among Zillow’s top 10 had higher home values than their nearest principal city, and seven markets had values more than $150K higher. Mortgage brokers and real estate agents from these locations told National Mortgage News why the cities have been attractive locales.

Washington Street in Golden, Colorado.

Wikimedia Commons/Yassie

Golden, Colorado

Golden, Colorado
Market: Denver
Typical home value: $900K
Growth in Q122 (compared to Q4 2021): 6.7%

Expert: Derek L. Hendricks, a mortgage banker in Golden, Colorado. Hendricks is a longtime resident of Golden.

Why is Golden a popular market?
“It’s crazy to see what’s happening. Not as much this year, but you’ll see a 100-year-old home that needs $100K work go for $1.3 million pretty fast. We’ve got a lot of Californians coming in this direction. Downtown, most of those homes have been there for 100 years. Houses in that area go fast. Everyone wants to be close to the restaurants. You start getting out from that epicenter, if you will, probably a 2-3 mile radius, homes are still going fairly quickly.”

“It’s a cool little town. I would say there’s probably a very small percentage of people that commute [to Denver]. You’ve got a straight shot down Sixth Avenue, all highway, no stoplights, the whole way into downtown Denver. It’s about 25 minutes. Golden’s got a great little center, probably 10 main restaurants down there.”

Vlasis Park in Ballwin, Missouri.

Wikimedia Commons/Dave Herholz from St. Louis, USA

Ballwin, Missouri

Ballwin, Missouri
Market: St. Louis
Typical home value: $378,157
Growth in Q122: 4.9%

Expert: Dan Kraus, originating manager at Guaranteed Rate Affinity. Kraus has worked in the market for 27 years.

Why is Ballwin a popular market?
“There’s different areas for first-time homebuyers with smaller homes. This would be a place for a second home, a family home. There’s great school districts. I know that’s a huge factor for a lot of people, I moved to Ballwin strictly for that. Ballwin is more spread out. It’s not a small community where there’s a main street and everybody kind of gathers around. You’re 20 minutes from downtown St. Louis and 20 minutes from Clayton, the other hub in St. Louis County with a lot of businesses.”

“I think the whole St. Louis region, you get so much more for your money. We’re seeing a big appreciation in property values but we started at a lower point. The dollars seem to go further. There’s some new construction in pockets around Ballwin so that’s probably driving up the price more. I would think that $378K number is probably about right on.”

Tustin, California

Tustin, California
Market: Los Angeles
Typical home value: $1,028,222
Growth in Q122: 7%

Expert: Dean O’Dell, a broker associate with The O’Dell Group for Seven Gables Real Estate. O’Dell has worked in the market since 1990.

Why is Tustin a popular market?
“If you look at a map, you’ll see a merging of highways in Tustin. It’s centrally located. You’ve got condos to castles. It’s just an area that once people got out and explored, the demand here exploded. Between Tustin, North Tustin and Tustin Ranch, and being centrally located in Orange County, it literally offers something for everyone. You can drive to the Irvine Spectrum or Newport Beach in less than 15 minutes. Our prices are half of what they are on the beach.”

"We’ve got hills and views that overlook the city. A lot of people want views, don’t have kids and don’t mind living on windy streets. The school district is really strong as well. It’s also known for families that have been here for multiple generations. You can buy something on the low end, where someone might have to spend $300K. The high side, we just had a sale in Tustin Ranch that was a little over $5 million.”

Johns Creek, Georgia

Johns Creek, Georgia
Market: Atlanta
Typical home value: $624,703
Growth in Q122: 8.4%

Expert: Pete Brown, owner and president of Summit Mortgage. Brown has worked in the Johns Creek market for 33 years.

Why is Johns Creek a popular market?
“It’s a very safe community with beautiful homes. The public schools are off the charts, top-notch, which is very important to families. Johns Creek itself is in the process of developing what they call the community town center, which is going to be the central location for outdoor concerts, restaurants and things like that. There’s several very nice restaurants, but there’s really no main downtown area.”

"If you were living in Johns Creek you’re either going to be working somewhere in the suburbs or you’re working remotely. Without traffic, it’s only a 30-minute drive [to Atlanta]. There is no inventory. It’s predominantly single-family homes. It’s pretty much fully-built. The average sales price is going to be $500K to $750K. There’s a lot of major companies relocating here, it’s a very big technology space. And so there’s some big commercial areas around that are producing a lot of high-end jobs that are attracting people.”

Yorba Linda, California

Yorba Linda, California
Market: Los Angeles
Typical home value: $1,247,646
Growth in Q122: 9.7%

Expert: Edie Israel, partner at the Edie Israel Team with Keller Williams Realty. Israel has worked in the market for 20 years.

Why is Yorba Linda a popular market?
“People are moving to Yorba Linda for quality of life reasons, specifically the excellent school system. Also, Yorba Linda’s known to have larger lots. It’s more of a rural feel. We’re a very safe community. There’s a lot of self-employed people in Yorba Linda. I’ve had some clients that are willing to take the train into Los Angeles just to live in the Yorba Linda area. More likely, they’re commuting to Anaheim and Irvine.”

“We’ve seen buyers from Los Angeles because of the safety and schools and the San Francisco Bay Area for the same reason. A lot of buyers grew up here, a lot are very local. The median home price is probably closer to $1.35 million. Typically $1.2 million is on the lower end and a little harder to find.”

Edmonds, Washington

Edmonds, Washington
Market: Seattle
Typical home value: $$965,774
Growth in Q122: 6.5%

Expert: Greg Hoff, owner/broker of Windermere Real Estate Edmonds. Hoff has worked in the market for 30 years.

Why is Edmonds a popular market?
“I don’t think anything’s really changed. We’re kind of a bedroom community on the water on Puget Sound. The big ferry terminal is Seattle. The next ferry terminal is Edmonds. It’s off the beaten path. For perspective, it takes me the same time to get from my office in downtown Edmonds from the freeway as it takes me to get to Seattle on the freeway. We’re probably the first stop outside of the city that would make sense for a lot of people.”

“We’ve got a fairly strict building height of 3 stories in our commercial district. We’ve been able to preserve the downtown core and the views that are offered of Puget Sound and over the Olympic Peninsula and the Olympic Range. We’re 90% built out. It retained its quaintness quite well. Our average is closer to $900K in the core.”

Westchase, Florida

Westchase, Florida
Market: Tampa
Typical home value: $537,668
Growth in Q122: 9.8%

Expert: Leslie McCluskie, a broker associate with Realty ONE Group Advantage. McCluskie is a 20-year resident of Westchase.

Why is Westchase a popular market?
“You can ask just about anyone that lives in Tampa; if you say you live in Westchase, they know where you live. It's one of the premier communities in Tampa. The area is a planned unit development. We have a really excellent homeowner association that maintains the community. There’s walking trails, there’s two parks, there’s two extremely large oversized pools. The schools are absolutely excellent. You don’t have to leave the community for anything.”

“You can get downtown very easily and to the airport. You have some that may commute to work in Tampa, then you have a lot of people working from home. Some of the houses are going for over $1 million. The average home now is probably higher than that ($537K). We’re seeing a lot of people moving in from New Jersey, New York and California.”

Highlands Ranch, Colorado

Highlands Ranch, Colorado
Market: Denver
Typical home value: $777,744
Growth in Q122: 9.9%

Expert: Nicole Pinette, owner/broker of Pinette Realty Group. Pinette has worked in the market for 25 years.

Why is Highlands Ranch a popular market?
“It took off like a shotgun in January, just because of the lack of inventory and the low interest rates. It stayed that way until it started slowing down the last week of April and first week of May. It’s a bedroom community. It’s one of the largest master-planned communities in the U.S. It’s very popular for just the structure, the consistency and amenities.”

“You’ve got the parks, the rec centers, shopping and restaurants, all the things you’d need to a point. It’s put together very effectively and very aesthetically pleasing. Not a ton of people commute, and a lot will commute to [Denver Tech Center], which is our mini-Denver, our tech center hub. That $777K number is very typical. That’s going to be probably a 3 to 4 bedroom, 3 bathroom, 2,400 square foot home.”

Burke, Virginia

Burke, Virginia
Market: Washington, D.C.
Typical home value: $675,890
Growth in Q1 22: 4.7%

Expert: Daniel W.R. Sole, a mortgage advisor with Mortgage Access Corp. Sole has worked in the market for two years.

Why is Burke a popular market?
“Burke is only about a half-hour to 40 minutes to the city. Prices, they’re not low — it’s still Northern Virginia — but compared to D.C. and the Arlington area, they’re a lot cheaper. We don’t typically see too much jumbo [loans] in the area. You have the outliers with the mansions and what not, but you have a lot of townhomes. You have a lot more modest single-family homes that typically go anywhere from the $600K to $800K range. You also still have quite a bit more affordable units. If you’re looking to get a condo it’s still probably under $300K.”

“It’s got that suburban feel. It has a lot of shopping centers in the area. There’s not a lot of nightlife, you don’t really see a younger population here. But in terms of somewhere to raise a family, some place to settle down, Burke is one of the best places to do it.”

Woodinville, Washington

Woodinville, Washington
Market: Seattle
Typical home value: $1,357,938
Growth in Q1 22: 11.2%

Expert: Jeff Baxter, a senior loan officer with Guild Mortgage. Baxter has worked in the market for over 10 years.

Why is Woodinville the most popular market of early 2022?
“Woodinville is interesting because it’s an older town. In the last 20 years or so it’s really grown. You can go anywhere from a brand-new 2,000 square feet home to a brand-new 5,000 square foot home with mini-mansions. Having lived here all my life, the $1.3 million home was more of the $800K, $900K home at the beginning of last year.”

“It’s near Bellevue and Redmond, where you’ve got all your tech, like Microsoft and Amazon. It’s a stone’s throw from the [State Route] 520 bridge to get into Seattle. You’ve got all the vineyards out here and new construction. The thing about Woodinville, it sort of feels like you’re out in the suburbs and it’s not like north Seattle or Lake City or neighborhoods like that. It’s a really beautiful countryside in a way.”