Analysis: South Remains Strong for Investment Opportunities

""HomeVestors of America"":http://www.homevestors.com/ and ""Local Market Monitor"":http://www.localmarketmonitor.com/ together released a ranking of the most promising markets for the third quarter of 2013, insisting that ""investing in single family homes as rental properties remains a good bet, even as home prices continue to rise.""

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""The data clearly shows that investing in rental properties will be an attractive proposition for many years because of the increasing numbers of people who can't afford to be homeowners, but the added opportunity of investing in undervalued markets won't last long,"" said Ingo Winzer, founder and president of Local Market Monitor.

The top 10 cities to make these investments all had strong job growth, and many also displayed strong home price appreciation in the past year--though they remain undervalued.

""In these undervalued markets, both rents and home values will be increasing rapidly as the local economy improves and demand for housing runs up against the fact that there has been very little new construction in recent years,"" Winzer said.

The Top Ten list favors the South and Southwest, with Las Vegas, Atlanta, Fort Worth, Little Rock, Stockton, Orlando, Jacksonville, and Baton Rouge all ranking. The two other spots were occupied by Midwestern markets: Columbus and Indianapolis.

Outside of those cities, HomeVestors and Local Market Monitor observed a decline in investment risk in all markets across the country. According to HomeVestors co-president David Hicks, a majority of the markets out of the top 100 are ranked as ""low risk"" or ""medium risk,"" with only six classified as ""speculative,"" including Los Angeles, Toledo, and Cleveland.

""Most of these markets have higher than average unemployment rates, but have other factors such as undervalued home prices that make them attractive, albeit more risky, investments,"" Hicks said.