Birmingham Alabama personal residence housing market

[Brian Gawronski]

Hello all,

As I introduced myself several weeks ago as someone moving to Birmingham... I have now arrived.  I have spent the last 3 days driving around trying to become familiar with different markets around Birmingham and have mainly been looking at Irondale and Hoover for their affordability while considering topping out my budget to break into Vestavia, Homewood or Mountainbrook.  My question to those of you who are local is- do you think this sellers market is sustainable? 

I never expected to see housing so high in Birmingham.  In Homewood (which obviously has great schools), a 1200 sq ft 3/2 is going for 150-180 $sq/ft which seems absurdly high to me.  My dilemma is that I havent fixed on a strategy yet and am between pushing my budget to the 250-300 area and buying something that will hopefully appreciate (which based on my perception of Birmingham macro economics isn't sustainable) vs buying something more on the 100-150 range that I can perhaps rent out later on down the line when I become more comfortable with the market and / or there is a correction and prices come down, thus allowing me to move into something larger... any insight into the local view on the Birmingham market would be appreciated.

Thank you