Memphis Named One of Top 10 Performing Real Estate Markets

Clear Capital’s latest Home Data Index monthly Market Report named Memphis, Tennessee as one of the top 10 performing markets in the first half of 2011.  The following is the complete list of high performing major markets based on data from January to June:

1. Washington D.C.-Arlington, VA.
2. New York-Long Island, N.Y.-New Jersey, N.J.
3. Orlando, FL
4. Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, Texas
5. San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, Calif.
6. Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, Mass.
7. Honolulu, HI
8. San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos, Calif.
9. Rochester, N.Y.
10.  Memphis, Tenn.

Out of these ten markets, five are expected to improve even more in the second half of the year.  Although price movements were largely negative among metropolitan areas–observed -7.1% for Memphis–the moderation of price changes reflects a flattening, stabilizing market.  A 1.0 percent price swing has already been noted in five of these markets and it is expected the next six months of 2011 will bring nine markets into this range, one of which is Memphis with a forecasted -1.0%.  Even if gains are modest, as reported by Clear Capital, this continues to point to and improved real estate market on the local level.  Despite the fact that future outlook continues to point to a fragile housing market, the quarterly increase of 0.9 percent provides encouraging evidence that markets are capable of positive price growth.

Among the lowest performing markets were Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, Va; Cleveland-Elyria-Mentor, Ohio; and Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, Minn., none of which are expected to produce gains in 2011, according Clear Capital.  Several are forecast to see even steeper declines for the remainder of the year.  So long as Memphis remains on the right end of these types of analyses, investors who are taking advantage of historically low prices can expect very good cash flow right to the top.