What if you could predict how a housing market performs before buying there? This would allow you to invest only in the best areas across the US, putting money down where you know it will multiply and letting you get leagues ahead of the other investors. This is MORE than possible, but you’ll need to know which metrics mean the most to an investing market. Neal Bawa has been doing this for years, building a huge real estate investing empire simply by looking at the data others often ignore. Today, he’s giving you his exact strategy. Why should you NOT invest in your backyard? It may seem like the easiest place to start, but Neal says you could miss out on a massive upside by sticking to what is comfortable. As a data scientist, he puts the numbers before the hype, ditching cities that investors are flocking to and investing in those that only have the most solid fundamentals. He mentions one metric that makes a housing market grow or slow in rent prices, but which metric is it? Today, Neal is sharing the best markets across the US to invest in, why renters prefer one type of housing over others (it’s not what you’d think), what Neal is buying NOW even with high interest rates and still (relatively) stubborn sellers, and why his six-metric formula is the key to predicting which markets will boom. In This Episode We Cover How to predict rent growth and home price growth in ANY market in America Multifamily vs. single-family rentals and why one hybrid is beating both Neal’s top 2025 markets to invest in using his six-metric market formula Why Neal stopped making offers on apartments and started buying THIS instead Is local real estate investing hurting your returns? Here’s why you may want to move your money And So Much More! Links from the Show Join the Future of Real Estate Investing with Fundrise Join BiggerPockets for FREE Sign Up for the On the Market Newsletter Find Investor-Friendly Lenders 13 Real Estate Hot Spots You Won’t Want to Miss Next Year Neal's BiggerPockets Profile Multifamily University Grab the Book “Real Estate by the Numbers” Jump to topic: (0:00) Intro (3:00) DON’T Invest in Your Backyard? (6:34) This Metric Predicts Markets (14:35) Tenants Want THIS Most (22:26) Best Markets in America (24:30) What Neal’s Buying NOW (33:52) Connect with Neal! Check out more resources from this show on BiggerPockets.com and  https://www.biggerpockets.com/blog/on-the-market-313 Interested in learning more about today’s sponsors or becoming a BiggerPockets partner yourself? Email [email protected]. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices