You know that friend who keeps telling you to check out their house in Lakeland? They’re on to something.
Realtor.com has just named the city its top market of 2019 based on sales growth (5 percent) and 7.4 percent price growth in the coming year.
The numbers, according to the Tampa Bay Business Journal, are driven by Lakeland’s millennial population, which is expected to take out a 32 percent share of the city’s mortgages.
What’s more is that the area’s rising home prices are expected to top 7.9 percent growth in the near year thanks to a projected population increase of 2.6 percent. The numbers just keep on getting better, too, with employment growth forecasted to top 3 percent, income to increase 4.7 percent and a local economy that is supposed to grow by 4.9 percent.
Thinking about making the move? Realtor.com says that the median listing home price is $205K while the median sold home price is just north of $186K. That's definitely more affordable than Tampa, where the website says the median sold home price is $232K (it's $205K in St. Petersburg).
Oh, and did we mention Lakeland’s burgeoning music scene, too? Not too shabby for a city where strippers threaten mass shootings.
This article appears in Jan 3-10, 2019.
