TAMPA, Fla. — The U.S. has more than 300 major cities with at least 100,000 people, according to data gathered by the U.S. Census Bureau. Of all those cities, research conducted by Zillow led them to predict Tampa and Orlando would be the 9th and 10th hottest housing markets, respectively, of 2024.
The city of Buffalo, New York ranked number one followed closely by two major cities in Ohio: Cincinnati and Columbus.
In order to predict the strength of each city's housing market, Zillow's researchers considered a number of different factors: one of which was the number of new jobs being created in a city, compared to the number of new home construction projects being approved.
According to the non-profit group FloridaCommerce, Tampa had added more private sector jobs by 2023 than all of Florida's other cities had over the course of the year and added more than 76,000 people to the workforce. A study done for RentCafe shows this came at a time where the number of millennial homeowners were outnumbering renters for the first time ever.
Another factor Zillow weighed was how steady home values are expected to be. Local experts on Tampa's housing market are predicting an improved year for homebuyers in 2024, with lower interest rates, more lending options and continued residential growth in rural areas like Pasco and Citrus counties. They do however, also expect the price of housing to increase slightly.
Zillow's research also led them to conclude that even in hot housing markets, there will still be more demand than supply. So while buyers may find more opportunities for homeownership this year, they can expect homes to be hard to find and to sell on the market very quickly.