If any real estate trend has become obvious in recent years, it is this: Things are happening in the secondary and tertiary markets. Big things.

1. MICHAEL ZARANSKY
Secondary,
Tertiary Markets
Are of Prime
Appeal

2. If any real estate trend has
become obvious in recent
years, it is this: Things are
happening in the secondary
and tertiary markets. Big
things.

3. That’s where the jobs are and where
the cost of living is most favorable —
and where, as a result, people are
going and the need for housing is
most acute.
No longer are businesses locked into
big cities. Such places are less and
less affordable, and in an online
economy companies are increasingly
looking toward the hinterlands.

4. That was one of many conclusions
drawn in an exhaustive Buildium.com
blog post about the top 50 secondary
markets, a list that included such
Midwestern cities as Columbus,
Cincinnati, Ohio, Detroit, Grand
Rapids, Mich., Indianapolis, Madison,
Wis., and Minneapolis.
The proof is in the
pudding. While the major
metropolitan areas
thrived immediately after
the 2008 Recession
ended, things have
changed in recent years.
It is projected that in the
five-year period
beginning in 2016, cities
like Chicago, New York
and Los Angeles will
grow at 0.2 percent,
while secondary spots
like Phoenix, Charleston
and Boise will grow at 1.6
percent.

5. In these 50 spots,
Buildium concluded,
the population was
rising twice as fast as
the rest of the country,
in no small part
because job growth
was at least that rapid.
Home values were
increasing 50 percent
faster than in the U.S.
as a whole, rents 20
percent more quickly.
The report lists
Tampa, St. Petersburg
and San Jose tops
among Tier I cities,
and Seattle,
Scottsdale, Ariz., and
Riverside, Calif., as the
most inviting Tier II
markets.
In the first of those
classifications,
Columbus was 15th,
while in the second
Minneapolis was
ninth, Madison 11th,
Indianapolis 16th,
Grand Rapids 19th,
Detroit 22nd and
Cincinnati 24th.

6. Other reports have listed Austin, Tex., Orlando, Fla., and
Nashville as the most promising smaller cities, and
asserted that urban initiatives, downtown amenities and
a strong educational system are the factors that will
sustain economic growth.
The first of those things is most in evidence in places
like Portland, Pittsburgh and Denver, while evidence of
the last can be found in such college towns as
Columbus and Madison, home to Ohio State University
and the University of Wisconsin, respectively.

7. As for the downtown amenities,
they include such things as shops,
theaters and restaurants, and it
has been found that the more
walkable a place is, the better. And
if major metropolitan areas have
been dubbed “24-hour cities,”
their smaller counterparts are at
the very least “18-hour cities.”
That seems to be good enough to
attract people, and to raise the
need for accommodations.

8. MichaelZaransky.com
Thank You!
Michael Zaranksy