Which New Construction Markets are Most Attractive for Out-of-Town Buyers?

Based on data from the latest New-Construction Insights report from Realtor.com, out-of-town buyers are driving the new construction market. Interest was measured by page views to new construction and existing home listings this spring, with out-of-metro buyers accounting for more than 67% of page views on newly built homes compared to roughly 65% for existing homes.

Several metro areas, primarily in the South, saw even greater traffic:

1. Lakeland, FL (more than 83% of new-construction views from out-of-town buyers)
2. Cape Coral, FL (82.4%)
3. Port St. Lucie, FL (80.9%)
4. North Port, FL (80.5%)
5. Durham, NC (80.2%)
6. Daytona Beach, FL (78.5%)
7. Charleston, SC (77.2%)
8. Stockton, CA (76.6%)
9. Augusta, GA (76.2%)
10. Greenville, SC (75.9%)

“The new builds are competitively priced in these metros, so out-of-metro buyers who maybe did not necessarily have new construction in mind find lots of new builds that fall into their price filters,” said Realtor.com senior economist Joel Berner.

Buyers looking to enter these markets are typically exiting more expensive large metro areas, such as Miami, New York City and Chicago.

Factors Attracting Buyers to New Homes

Lower prices and sales incentives are two of the primary factors making new construction more attractive to buyers, according to Realtor.com. The latest NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) revealed that 35% of builders cut prices in August, down from 37% in July. The average price reduction was 6% and the use of sales incentives was 63% in August, both unchanged from the previous month.

Most of the top-performing markets are priced at or below the national median asking price, with builders offering to pay closing costs and even buy down interest rates to entice buyers to new construction.

See the full report at Realtor.com.