House hunters in the West Central Florida area will find several of the region’s real estate markets are considered ripe for major growth in the coming year. That’s according to the real estate website Trulia, which just released its top 10 list of “hot” real estate markets across the country.

Florida’s Jacksonville gets No. 1 honors on the list, which is based on five key metrics. The factors the rankings were based on include job growth, high affordability and home searches conducted on Trulia.com, among others. Jacksonville’s 3.8 percent job growth rate in 2016 is one of the biggest reasons behind its top placement, the website noted.

Sunshine State metro areas also scored second and third-place rankings. The Cape Coral-Fort Meyers area came in second. Deltona-Daytona Beach-Ormond Beach earned third. Dearborn, Michigan, earned fourth-place honors.

The Tampa-St. Petersburg area scored fifth-place honors. Job growth was again cited for the high placement with local real estate experts pointing to such things as the Vinick-Cascade project helping make the region hot. Having the University of South Florida and University of Tampa in the area doesn’t hurt either.

Florida doesn’t reappear on the rankings until the No. 10 position. Those honors went to the North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton area.

While the weather is the most obvious draw to the area, it’s much more than sunny skies and 80-degree days that attract people.  The Sarasota-Bradenton area is a full-time community that boasts not only great weather but also critical infrastructure – the arts, great schools, small to medium-size companies, small universities.

To learn more about the Florida real estate climate in 2017 contact a member of the 9 Core Realty team.