Buyers Face Less Competition in These 10 Towns

Buyers across the country are facing bidding wars and sparse inventory, but not every U.S. metro is experiencing the same heat. The housing market may seem like it’s a seller’s market, but there are more options and slowly rising home prices in some smaller cities and college towns, reports Realtor.com. Still, Realtor.com says prices are rising and competition is fierce in these markets—it’s just not as intense as the rest of the country. Top markets for homebuyers right now include Miami Beach, Fla., Newburgh, N.Y., and Odessa, TX.

Looking ahead, buyers may get some more relief in the coming months as sellers become more comfortable listing their homes. Rising mortgage rates and the increase in inventory could slow down price gains. And while prices likely won’t drop, or at least by much, it could lead to a bit less competition.

But where can buyers get at least a little relief right now? To come up with our list of places, we looked at cities where home prices had not risen more than 10% in the past year (compared with 16% nationally) and calculated the number of homes for sale per 1,000 households—the more the better. All of the cities had at least 50,000 residents, and we limited the list to one city per state to achieve geographic diversity.

To be clear, this doesn’t mean there are a ton of homes on the market in these places—it’s just that the situation isn’t as tight as it is in other areas. Only Miami Beach, FL, which snagged our No. 1. spot, has a higher number of homes per 1,000 households than the historical national average. That’s thanks to builders putting up lots of condos, which can be lower-priced than single-family homes in some cases.

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