GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- Home-buying millennials like John and Christy Betit are the reason the Grand Rapids area will continue to be the hottest housing markets in the U.S. next year, according to a national study published Thursday, Dec. 7.

The Betits bought their home - an 1890 farmhouse on four acres in Lowell -- this summer after the arrival of their daughter, Natalie, 10 months ago.

"We wanted something with character and we found it," said John Betit, a 27-year-old engineer who bought his first house just before he and Christy got married in 2013.

Trulia.com, a real estate research group, concluded that young couples like the Betits are the reason West Michigan will continue to be the hottest real estate market among the top 100 markets in the country.

Grand Rapids was ranked 11th in the country in employment growth. It ranked 16th in its vacancy rate, and is ranked 17th in its share of households under age 35 - the benchmark for millennials, Trulia.com said in a report released Thursday, Dec. 7.

Nashville, Tenn. was ranked No. 2 because of its strong job growth and high share of households under age 35. Raleigh, N.C. was ranked third because of its strong economy and low vacancy rate.

It's a repeat performance for Grand Rapids, which was ranked 1st in millennial home buying by Trulia in April and a year ago, when Grand Rapids was ranked as the fourth hottest market to watch for 2017.

Dave VanKeulen, the real estate agent with Greenridge Realty who helped the Betits find their house, said they are typical of young couples who are jumping headlong into homeownership.

"It's been a wonderful year for young families," said VanKeulen, a 29-year-old who produces You-Tube videos to guide first-time home buyers through the process. "Millennials purchasing homes is a very real part of my business."

Unlike many traditional home buyers looking for a ready-to-move-in property, many millennials are looking at their new homes as an investment and therefore, are not afraid to buy a fixer-upper, VanKeulen said.

"They're looking for homes that are cheaper that they can put some sweat equity into," said VanKeulen, who said most of his first-time buyers are looking at properties in the $120,000 to $200,000 range.

In the case of the Betits, John rolled up his sleeves and spent the summer updating the house.

"I completely re-did the kitchen and we did major overhauls in the bathrooms," he said. "We basically touched every room in the house."

Adam Paarlberg, president of the Grand Rapids Association of Realtors (GRAR), said the West Michigan market continues to show strong demand for housing, resulting in fairly priced homes getting multiple offers above the asking price.

Through the first 10 months of 2017, the average home was on the market for 77 days, a record low, according to GRAR statistics. Meanwhile, the average price of pending home sale was $208,761, up 8.4 percent from last year.

While record low inventories of houses for sale has become the "new normal," Paarlberg said the market remains healthy and "isn't doing irrational things."

Nationally, Americans are becoming less optimistic about buying a home in 2018, according to Trulia's chief economist Ralph McLaughlin. One in four Americans believe 2018 will be better for home buying while a similar sized group believes it will be worse.

"While enthusiasm for homebuying is softening, millennials and Gen Xers have started to buy, and it looks like some are transitioning from renting to buying. If this trend continues into 2018, we should expect the homeownership rate to continue rising," the report said.

The Trulia report said it expects to see falling home prices in expensive coastal markets if the House or Senate GOP tax plan passes while demand for housing should increase in the Midwest with the doubling of the standard deduction for households that do not itemize their tax deductions.

Meanwhile, optimism about housing has waned since President Donald Trump's election last year. Home buying sentiment by Republicans has fallen 1 percent while sentiments in Democratic households have remained flat, down 10 percent from the previous year.