The 20 Hottest Housing Markets in May

Realtor.com’s most recent housing market report found the nation’s hottest cities were smaller, located in the Northeast to West, and gave buyers more bang for their buck. Buyers are seeking relief from the ever-growing home prices, looking toward markets where median list prices are just $311,000, a price 18% lower than May’s median home price of $380,000. New Hampshire’s Manchester and Concord cities remain on the hottest housing market list for the third consecutive month, and a Realtor.com senior economist says it’s likely due to its close proximity to Boston.

Median list prices rose 3.8% in Manchester in May compared with the same month a year earlier and were up 8.6% in Concord. Manchester’s price growth wasn’t as impressive because more condos and townhouses were listed for sale as single-family homes, which are in short supply and are quickly snapped up.

At the moment, the smaller city of Concord is even more popular with buyers than Manchester, likely due to its lower price range, says Manchester-based real estate broker Pamela Young, of Re/Max Insight.

During the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic, she was seeing a lot of buyers from New York, Massachusetts, and Connecticut moving into the area. But recently more locals are entering the homebuying fray, especially those looking for their first homes or hoping to trade up into larger abodes.

But the lack of homes for sale, the high prices, and the heavy competition are forcing some buyers into more rural areas with longer commutes to their jobs.

“People are starting to go farther and farther out,” she says. “Buyers can get more of a house” for the same price.

That has become a trend nationally.

Ratiu points out that even the more expensive markets on the list, such as Vallejo, CA, and Colorado Springs, CO, are cheaper alternatives to San Francisco and Denver.

Many of the other places are ones where the local economies have rebounded, so they can offer residents the good jobs needed to pay off mortgages.

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