Zillow’s making it official in 2016: Denver’s popular and will keep on growing.
The real estate website predicts the Mile High City will be home to the hottest housing market this year, based on three factors: the Zillow Home Value Index (the monthly median home value in a particular geographical region), income growth and unemployment rates.
Denver saw home values rise 16 percent in 2015, and Zillow is forecasting them to rise another 5 percent in 2016, along with Portland. According to Zillow, the average home value growth was around 3.5 percent in the U.S. Denver’s unemployment rate was relatively low at 3.1 percent.
Specifically, a few neighborhoods in the Denver area will be on fire. The five top neighborhoods are actually in Aurora:
- Delmar Parkway – 9.1% forecasted home value growth
- Highline Villages – 8.7% forecasted home value growth
- Centretech – 8.6% forecasted home value growth
- Laredo Highline & City Center North – both with 8.5% forecasted home value growth
- North Aurora – 8.3% forecasted home value growth
Denver’s Ruby Hill neighborhood also looks promising.
These are the top 10 hottest markets for 2016:
- Denver, Colo.
- Seattle, Wash.
- Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas
- Richmond, Va.
- Boise, Idaho
- Ogden, Utah
- Salt Lake City, Utah
- Omaha, Neb.
- Sacramento, Calif.
- Portland, Ore.
Zillow says a few trends are to be expected nationally this year. Low-income Americans will have a hard time affording even the least expensive houses, and rent will soar even higher. The site expects more people will move away from big cities, and therefore, the appeal of suburban neighborhoods will increase. These areas will add more amenities and become “mini-cities” in their own right.