These markets are expected to be the hottest for real estate in 2022

Large cities, which previously dominated the list of the country’s top real estate markets, are losing their appeal as people discover they can work from anywhere, spend less, and escape dense crowds. And that has unleashed a flood of demand for smaller metro areas.

In fact, the two top cities in PwC’s 2022 Emerging Trends in Real Estate report have populations of less than 2.5 million. Former stalwarts, such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C., meanwhile all failed to make the top 10.

“The pandemic stopped a lot of people in their tracks, but also set many in motion,” the report says. “People freed to work remotely realized that they could beam into their meetings from 1,000 miles away just as easily as ten. No wonder, then, that almost all of this year’s survey of top-ranked real estate markets are in faster growing southern and western regions and away from the coasts.”

This is the 43rd Emerging Trends in Real Estate report, which has become one of the most widely read forecasts in the real estate industry.

Here are PwC’s top-ranked real estate markets for 2022:

1. Nashville
2. Raleigh/Durham
3. Phoenix
4. Austin
5. Tampa/St. Petersburg
6. Charlotte
7. Dallas/Fort Worth
8. Atlanta
9. Seattle
10. Boston

For people looking to build new homes, the report recommends these cities:

1. Raleigh/Durham
2. Tampa/St. Petersburg
3. Phoenix
4. Dallas/Fort Worth
5. Austin
6. Denver
7. Charlotte
8. San Antonio
9. Atlanta
10. Washington, D.C.–Northern Va.

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