The Top 10 U.S. Real Estate Markets of 2022

The real estate market during the pandemic clearly favored sellers and made it more difficult for buyers to find affordable properties. Prices skyrocketed and inventory levels were at record lows.

Prices are currently cooling and 2022 could be a much better year for homebuyers than 2021.

However, second-tier cities that may be more affordable and offer benefits like more space, might not be as much of an alternative to bigger cities anymore as expected. Not only did a lot of people move to these cities – this trend might last as remote work is here to stay. 

Cities like Boise, Idaho experience more than 30% growth in Q3 of 2021. The city’s median price jumped to 10 times the city’s median income, making it the least affordable housing market in the United States.

Knowledge workers who can work from the comfort of their home no longer need to live in big cities. They relocate from tech hubs like Austin, L.A., New York or San Francisco to much smaller cities that are more affordable.

While many big cities are expected to see price increases, they won’t match some of the smaller cities. The majority of the top 10 real estate markets of 2022 are going to be second-tier cities that are thriving economies with good infrastructure and small town vibes.

The top 10 real estate markets of 2022, based on this analysis could be: 

1. Salt Lake City, Utah

2. Boise City, Idaho

3. Spokane-Spokane Valley, Washington

4. Indianapolis-Carmel-Anderson, Indiana

5. Columbus, Ohio

6. Providence-Warwick, Rhode Island-Massachusetts

7. Greenville-Anderson-Mauldin, South Carolina

8. Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, Washington

9. Worcester, Mass.-Connecticut

10. Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Florida