These are the 5 US cities you should buy a home in before you get priced out of the housing market, says 'Million Dollar Listing' real estate investor

An aerial view of homes in Atlanta, Georgia. halbergman/Getty Images

• Celebrity real estate agent Josh Altman named five cities to buy homes in before the prices get too hot.
• He said home prices in Atlanta, Dallas, Orlando, Phoenix and San Diego could "skyrocket."
• These cities are "booming with economic growth" and have rising populations, he said. 

There are five US cities where home prices are poised to skyrocket, so people looking to get homes there should move fast, "Million Dollar Listing" celebrity realtor Josh Altman says.

Speaking to the personal finance website GOBankingRates in an article published on Tuesday, he said that predicting which cities would be good investments required examining their economic growth, population trends, and infrastructure developments.

The five cities handpicked by Altman are Atlanta, Dallas, Orlando, Phoenix, and San Diego.

"These cities are booming with economic growth, rising populations, strong job markets, and great affordability," he told the outlet. "We see huge potential here."

Atlanta

Atlanta's skyline. Sean Pavone / Getty Images

Atlanta has a population of about 510,000 as of 2023.

Most of its residents are millennials, with its residents' median age being 33.6 years.

The median value of a home in Atlanta is about $429,990, per May data from real estate site Redfin.

It also has a dynamic business environment, with a 2023 analysis from LinkedIn showing that Greater Atlanta had the highest number of people setting up their own businesses of all US cities.

Dallas

A picture of Dallas' skyline. dszc/Getty Images

Dallas in north Texas has a population of about 1.3 million as of 2024.

As with Atlanta, most of its residents are millennials, with its residents' median age being 33.1 years.

The median home value in Dallas is about $499,900, per Redfin, and has increased 20.7% year over year.

Texas has received a large inflow of residents from other states, particularly California. Between 2021 and 2022, more than 668,300 people moved into Texas, according to state-to-state migration data from the Census Bureau.

Dallas' mayor, Eric Johnson, said in January that people are attracted to Texas by its relatively lower cost of housing and living and a better quality of life.

Pengyu Cheng, a tech company program manager, previously told BI that he moved to Texas from San Francisco with his wife and purchased a two-story home for $825,000.

He said this was a fraction of what they could have paid in California, where they were renting a two-bedroom home for $3,100 a month.

Orlando

Aerial view of Orlando skyline and reflection in Lake Eola. Michael Warren/Getty Images

Popular for its Disney World and Universal amusement park, Orlando has a population of about 330,000, a 5.43% increase from 2020.

The median age of its residents is 34.67, and homes have a median price of $407,440, per Redfin. The median price has risen 8.7% year over year.

The city is luring people from its pricier neighbor, Miami, particularly young people attracted by its lack of state income tax, good weather, and job opportunities.

Phoenix

Arial view of Phoenix, Arizona's skyline. Kruck20/Getty Images

Phoenix is the fifth-most populous city in the US, with nearly 1.65 million residents.

The median age of its residents is young, at 34.4 years old. Houses have a median cost of $461,000, per Redfin, a figure that has risen 5.5% year over year.

The city is hot, not just in terms of its climate but also in terms of an inflow of new residents.

Young, wealthy people are putting down roots here, attracted by the warm weather all year round and the bigger, more affordable homes.

San Diego

Aerial view of the Sunset Cliffs area in the city of San Diego, California. Art Wager/Getty Images

The quieter sibling of Los Angeles, the seaside city of San Diego has a population of about 1.4 million and is the US' eighth most populous city.

The median age of San Diego residents is 35.8 years.

Prices of homes in this city top this list, with the median being $980,000, a figure reflecting a 7.7% increase yearly, according to Redfin.

But it's also true that housing in San Diego trends toward the pricier end. San Diego, along with four other Californian cities, was marked as "impossibly unaffordable," according to the 2024 Demographia International Housing Affordability report.

If Altman's words ring true and prices here are set to spike more, serious buyers should lock their house purchases in soon.

Altman didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider, made outside normal working hours.

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