One way to address the housing shortage is by building more homes, and some cities are excelling at this more than others. Real estate marketing platform Realtor.com identified the top 10 metro areas with the fastest growth in new construction. Since new homes often require less maintenance and may come with incentives such as closing-cost assistance or lower interest rates, they can offer better financial value. In fact, in two of the top metros—Bend, Ore., and Pensacola, Fla.—new homes are listed at lower prices than existing homes.
“In these metros, strong price growth and high demand in the existing-home market over the past several years have enticed builders to focus on expanding their operations there to capitalize on profit opportunities and fill the gap created by low existing-home inventory,” says Realtor.com senior economist Joel Berner.