The American dream of owning a home may be getting harder to achieve in some of the country’s biggest cities, but new data suggests it remains alive and well in parts of Texas and the Sun Belt.

According to WalletHub’s 2026 Best Real Estate Markets report released Wednesday, Frisco, Texas, took the top spot and was followed by neighboring McKinney, Texas. Murfreesboro, Tennessee; Durham, North Carolina; and Denton, Texas, rounded out the top five.

Other top 10 contenders include Cary, North Carolina; Madison, Wisconsin; Allen, Texas; Charlotte, North Carolina and Irvine, California.

“Texas and other Sun Belt markets dominate the top of the ranking, highlighting the combination of housing-market strength and helpful economic conditions found in many of these cities,” WalletHub writer and analyst Chip Lupo told Fox News Digital. “These markets tend to perform well across factors such as home-price appreciation, new housing construction, building-permit activity, affordability and job growth.”

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“Nearly 47% of the housing units in Frisco, the No. 1 market overall, were built between 2010 and 2024 … McKinney, ranked No. 2, has a 40% new-home rate, the 10th-highest building-permit activity and one of the best job growth rates,” Lupo said.

Texas cities consistently ranked in the top 10 spots for the best real estate markets in America, according to new WalletHub data. (Getty Images)

“By comparison, many large coastal markets rank considerably lower overall, including New York at No. 231, Los Angeles at No. 237 and San Francisco at No. 273. Their relatively weak rankings reflect a combination of housing-market challenges and poor affordability and economic-environment scores,” he continued.

The study weighs underlying housing-market health and market trajectory more heavily than affordability alone in ranking the 300 U.S. cities, with cities needing a combination of healthy housing fundamentals and economic conditions that could support homeowners over the longer term to rank highly.

“Taxes are certainly part of the equation, but the ranking points more broadly to the combination of housing conditions and economic strength rather than taxes alone,” Lupo said.

McKinney, Texas, took the No. 2 spot for America’s best real estate markets. (Getty Images)

“By contrast, major coastal markets rank far lower. Those markets may offer high incomes and economic opportunity, but their housing costs can make it much harder for residents to translate those opportunities into homeownership. The biggest, most popular cities are on everyone’s radar,” he said, “so their housing markets have been competitive for a long time, and they continue to be. The entry point is therefore more expensive, and there might not be as much room for growth.”

“The contrast with expensive coastal cities is less about simply building more homes and more about whether housing supply can keep pace with demand. When new construction consistently falls behind population and job growth, affordability pressures become much harder to overcome,” Lupo said.

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Bourbon Street in New Orleans’ famed French Quarter neighborhood. (Getty Images)

New Orleans ranked last in the report, followed by Baltimore. Lupo said this is a “warning sign” that goes beyond home prices.

“Homeowners shouldn’t assume further deterioration is inevitable, but these rankings are a reason to be cautious,” he said. “Markets with weak housing fundamentals can experience slower home-price growth, weaker market activity and greater difficulty attracting buyers, which can make it harder for homeowners to build equity or sell quickly.”

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The lack of a clear AI exposure remains the key concern for Indian equities, with weak growth emerging as the next most important risk, according to the survey, which showed 32% of the respondents were net underweight on the nation. Lack of reforms and high valuations also emerged as reasons for the bearish outlook on Asia’s fourth-largest equity market.

In contrast, sentiment improved for Indonesia, with 27% of the fund managers saying they were net underweight on the market, compared with 32% in July. Taiwan and Japan remain investors’ most preferred regions. A total of 98 panellists with $272 billion of assets responded to the survey’s questions between Aug 7 and Aug 13.

Bloomberg

The survey findings align with a decline in Indian stocks over the past two weeks despite an improving earnings outlook, suggesting investors remain wary of the market even as its fundamentals strengthen.
Global funds have purchased more than $4 billion in local stocks this quarter — the most among regional emerging markets — after record outflows in the first half of the year, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Earnings for benchmark NSE Nifty 50 members jumped 18% from last year in the most recent three-month period, ahead of Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd.’s estimate of 10% growth.

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Indian stocks were last termed the least preferred in the BofA poll in May, as the country faced pressure on growth from rising energy costs following the US-Iran war that triggered a rally in global crude oil prices. With no sign of progress toward resolving the conflict, energy prices are climbing again, weighing on investor sentiment.
While the Nifty 50 has jumped 8% from a recent low in March, it remains the second-worst performing major market in Asia this year, having lost 8%. It’s on track to snap a historic run of 10 straight years of annual gains.Meanwhile, the improvement in sentiment for Indonesia reflects the more than 20% rally in the benchmark Jakarta Composite Index from a June low, following the central bank’s measures to stabilise the currency and fading fears of a downgrade to frontier-market status by MSCI Inc.

(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views, and opinions given by experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times.)

Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group has raised its stake in Hugo Boss to almost 48 per cent after 17.6 per cent of the German fashion house’s investors accepted its takeover offer, the retailer said in a brief stock exchange statement – a holding that tightens its grip on the brand but falls short of majority control.

The Sports Direct owner launched a £1.7 billion offer for Hugo Boss at €38 per share, part of a run of deals that has also included the acquisition of Harvey Nichols, the luxury department store chain, and a takeover offer for Accent Group, the Australian owner of The Athlete’s Foot shoe brand.

Frasers has spent several years building its position in Hugo Boss, which it stocks in its Flannels and Frasers shops, and stepping up efforts to exert influence over the brand. That campaign has included threatening to vote against future dividend payments and successfully pushing for a seat on the label’s supervisory board for Michael Murray, the Frasers chief executive and Ashley’s son-in-law.

Analysts described the offer as low, voluntary and lacking a minimum acceptance threshold, suggesting the group was “seeking optionality rather than necessarily full control”. Submitting a voluntary offer allowed Frasers to build its stake beyond 30 per cent without triggering the mandatory bid required under German takeover rules once an investor crosses that threshold.

Ashley may yet need more than 50 per cent. Sources told the Times in July that Frasers was laying the groundwork for Murray to be installed as chief executive of Hugo Boss, a move that would follow a playbook the retailer has deployed before.

The Hugo Boss board had urged shareholders to reject the €38 per share bid, which it said undervalued the brand and was “inadequate from a financial point of view”.

Founded in 1924, Hugo Boss is the largest premium fashion house in Germany, with global sales topping €4.2 billion. The company is in the midst of a turnaround as it contends with brand confusion, a global decline in demand for formalwear and a wider slowdown in the clothing market.

The enlarged stake forms part of Ashley’s long-running effort to push Frasers upmarket from its roots selling discounted sportswear through Sports Direct. Last week the group secured a reported £40 million deal to acquire Harvey Nichols, which it hopes will help expand its relationships with luxury brands including Moncler, Burberry and Gucci. Frasers also disclosed in July that it had increased its holding in Burberry to 4.2 per cent, making it the third-largest shareholder in the company. Ashley stepped down as chief executive of Frasers in 2022 but remains its majority shareholder.

Frasers shares rose 2 per cent, or 16p, to 811p on Tuesday, giving the group a market value of roughly £3.5 billion. The stock is up about 22 per cent this year, despite the retailer withholding annual financial guidance last month because of the takeover offers for Hugo Boss and Accent Group.

Profit before tax rose 38.9 per cent to £527.8 million in the year to April, largely on a £117.7 million increase in premiums from strategic investments, of which the Hugo Boss and Accent stakes contributed nearly £50 million.

Charles Allen, senior retail industry analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, said: “Frasers Group’s Harvey Nichols acquisition and enlarged Hugo Boss stake give it a chance to demonstrate operating discipline at two troubled retailers and reset investor perceptions.

“Its low valuation, operational consistency and focus on cashflow remain strengths, while the extent of its involvement in Hugo Boss will test strategic intent.”

Amy Ingham

Amy Ingham is a reporter at Business Matters, covering UK business news with a focus on breaking news, business policy, late payments and insolvency. She joined the magazine in 2026 after completing the NCTJ Diploma in Journalism at Harlow College’s journalism school. Her recent reporting includes British Steel’s nationalisation and its impact on SME suppliers, the decline in late payments by large firms, and Insolvency Service director disqualifications. Reach her at aingham@cbmeg.co.uk.

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