Forbes worked with Local Market Monitor, a company that tracks home prices and economic factors in more than 300 housing markets, to put together a list of “Best Buy Cities.” These are the top 20 places where you should want to invest money in a home.
No. 1? Fort Worth-Arlington. No. 2? Dallas-Plano-Irving.
Both cities offer homes that would be within reach for middle-class Americans, at $168,383 in Fort Worth-Arlington and $180,645 in greater Dallas. Prices in greater Fort Worth are considered 20% below their actual value, according to Local Market Monitor. Homes in the greater Dallas region are 12% down, so less off, but they are expected to rise more–29%–over the next three years.
For buyers who intend to rent out their homes, the populations in these cities are growing at a healthy clip: from 2009 to 2012, at 4.9% in Fort Worth and 6.1% in Dallas. At that rate, Dallas is tied for the fastest-growing city on the Best Buy Cities list. It’s ranked fifth in terms of job growth, at 3% as of the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics stats.
