South Dakota – Ready, Willing, and Able for a Housing Boom

Realtors in South Dakota wish their housing market was as exciting as what their neighbors to the north are dealing with – where an oil boom has led to a housing boom in North Dakota. While some of the prosperity has spilled over to the south, the Mount Rushmore State hasn’t seen nearly as much success as North Dakota has.

Instead, home prices here have been like a rollercoaster – going both up and down for the past several years. Now that they’re back on an upswing, the mortgages in South Dakota are even more important. Realtors in South Dakota say that low rates combined with improving prices should provide a strong incentive for people to buy in 2013.

Realtors in South Dakota say one of the most interesting areas to keep an eye on in 2013 will be Rapid City. Since the western side of the Mount Rushmore State has benefitted the most from North Dakota’s oil boom, experts want to see how Rapid City responds to the overflow. If the population continues to go up – and the unemployment rate increases with it – good things will happen to Rapid City’s housing market this year. So far, there’s already talk of new condos and new commercial development, so better news for the homes for sale in Rapid City seems like the logical next step!

In Sioux Falls – the state’s largest city – buyers will have their choice of new and existing homes for sale. Since more than 600 new home permits were issued in 2012 (that’s more than double the amount that were issued in 2011), there will be plenty of never-been-lived-in homes to choose from in 2013. Even though the number of permits issued is still lower than it was before the housing bubble burst, realtors in South Dakota say it’s a sign that both builder and consumer confidence are on the rise – which is really just a fancy way of saying that people here feel better about the direction that the housing market is going in.

Up in Aberdeen, renting appears to be the way to go. In fact, apartments here are so popular that throughout 2012, several new complexes popped up around town. An average apartment for rent in Aberdeen will cost you about $600 per month – much lower than the sky-high rental prices that we’re seeing in most of the country.

One thing that realtors all over South Dakota are smiling about? The state’s unemployment rate. At 4.4% at the end of 2012, South Dakota was third-best in the country. That means people here have steadier paychecks than most of the country – meaning that they’re more capable of committing to mortgages.