Small Businesses Thriving In Emerging Residential Markets
The top areas had 2.5 “everyday splurge” chain stores for every 1,000 people compared with 2.1 for the broader list of 300.
Small businesses are thriving in the nation’s hottest resident markets, according to a new report by Realtor.com and the Wall Street Journal.
“The top 10 emerging markets have 42.6 Small Business Administration 7(a) loans for every million people, compared with 35.6 for the whole list of 300 metro areas,” the two announced in the unveiling of the Emerging Markets Housing Index this week.
Within retailing, the top areas had, on average, 2.5 “everyday splurge” chain stores for every 1,000 people compared with 2.1 for the broader list of 300.
“(The hottest areas) all draw substantial non-local home shopping interest. On average these top-ten emerging markets saw 64.2 percent of their home shopping traffic coming from viewers outside of the metro area in 2020Q4, whereas the average among the 300 metros was 60.7 percent,” said the study.
The top emerging markets saw out of market shopping interest grow from 62.5 percent in 2019Q4.
“In other words, these areas are not only attracting a lot of non-locals shopping for homes, they are drawing in even more home shoppers from outside of the area than they did one year ago,” the researchers stressed.
The next hottest retail areas outside of the top 10 also attract more non-local than local home shoppers with 58.1 percent of home shoppers coming from outside the metro area in 2020Q4.
But unlike the top 10, they haven’t seen as large a share grow over the last year, according to the study.
The top 20 of the 300 largest metro markets have seen home prices increase by 21% on average in the last year, compared to an average of 14% across all markets.
The top 10 in descending order were Coeur d’Alene, ID; Austin-Round Rock, TX; Springfield, OH; Billings, MT; Spokane-Spokane Valley, WA; Lafayette-West Lafayette, IN; Reno, NV; Concord, NH; Manchester-Nashua, NH and Santa Cruz, Watsonville, CA.
Followed by: Burlington, NC; Akron, OH; Eureka-Arcata-Fortuna, CA; Appleton, WI; Modesto, CA: Prescott, AZ; Columbus, OH; Sacramento–Roseville–Arden-Arcade, CA; Madison, WI: and Columbia, MD.
The index uses a slate of housing market, economic vitality, and quality of life metrics to surface emerging housing markets–areas that are expected to see home price growth and that offer attractive lifestyle amenities.