North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton MSA Ranks #3 on WSJ-Realtor.com® Emerging Housing Markets Index Report for Spring 2022

North Port-Sarasota-Manatee MSA ranks #1 out of the four Florida cities that made the Top-20 Emerging Housing Markets for Spring 2022

SARASOTA, Fla. (April 26, 2022)— The Wall Street Journal and Realtor.com® today released the WSJ/Realtor.com® Spring 2022 Emerging Housing Markets Index. The North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton metro area was ranked at the 3rd spot for Spring 2022. This index analyzes key housing market data, as well as economic vitality and lifestyle metrics, to surface emerging housing markets that offer a high quality of life and are expected to see future home price appreciation. The Spring 2022 index highlights housing markets which display solid employment fundamentals, attractive amenities and lifestyle options, access to the outdoors and desirable housing. Underlining the health of local job markets, 14 out of the top 20 metros had unemployment rates below the national 3.6% rate in the first quarter of 2022.

“The secret has been out for a few years now that the Sarasota-Bradenton area is a great place to live, work, play and raise a family. Our area has won numerous awards over the past few years from 'Best Beach in the USA' to 'Best Place to Retire' and everything in between," said 2022 RASM President Tony Veldkamp, a Senior Advisor at SVN Commercial Advisory Group. "We’ve been growing exponentially since the end of the great recession, and our great mix of beautiful beaches, art, culture, sports and business, makes for a great real estate market.”

Over half of the top emerging markets are cities in the Sun Belt, and benefit from sunny days and warmer weather throughout the year. Vacation destinations like Santa Cruz, Calif., and Sarasota, Naples and Tampa, Fla., appear in the top 20. The Top-20 Emerging Housing Markets for Spring 2022 are: 1. Rapid City, S.D. 2. Santa Cruz-Watsonville, Calif. 3. North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton, Fla. 4. Santa Rosa, Calif. 5. Naples-Immokalee-Marco Island, Fla. 6. Boulder, Colo. 7. Coeur d’Alene, Idaho 8. Fort Collins, Colo. 9. Billings, Mont. 10. Raleigh, N.C. 11. Columbia, Mo. 12. Elkhart-Goshen, Ind. 13. Fort Wayne, Ind. 14. Burlington, N.C. 15. Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Fla. 16. Topeka, Kan. 17. Johnson City, Tenn. 18. Yuma, Ariz. 19. Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Fla. 20. San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, Calif. To read the full article, click here.