Where We'd Invest in Real Estate Right Now (12 Markets)

In June 2026, the BiggerPockets team released an updated list of best markets to invest in, this time organized by strategy: long-term rentals, short-term rentals, flips, and house hacking. The core argument is that the market you choose matters more than almost any other decision you make as an investor, and that the right market depends entirely on your specific approach.

How the hosts picked: criteria and psychology

Henry Washington explained his screening process in detail. For long-term rentals, he looked for markets with positive five-year and one-year price growth, population growth, job growth, rent growth, and income growth. Then he narrowed further to places where the median home price was at or below the national average and where median rents were at or above 90% of the national average. His reasoning: "I want a market where people want to live there and there are jobs for them." Dave Meyer added a useful calibration on the old 1% rule. He noted that almost no market in the country averages a 1% rent-to-price ratio anymore. The real threshold is whether the ratio is above 0.6% — if it is, the market is worth investigating. If it falls below 0.5%, cash flow will be very hard to find. The hosts also emphasized looking for "hybrid markets" that offer both cash flow and appreciation, and they stressed the importance of infrastructure investment by cities and compa