The housing market showed signs of slowing in March compared to a year ago, even as some “unexpected hot spots emerged,” realtor.com® notes in its latest housing report. Each month, realtor.com® releases its “hottest metro” list based on where homes are selling the fastest and the markets seeing some of the biggest online listings traffic at its site.
In March, several Ohio markets known for affordability topped realtor.com®’s list. The state’s capital, Columbus, came in at number one. Akron and Canton came in at number 16 and number 19, respectively, while Cleveland and Cincinnati were the largest metros seeing the strongest year-over-year improvement.
A year ago, realtor.com®’s list was dominated by California markets. But a slowdown in Western markets and big cities has been benefiting the Midwest, which is often known for greater affordability in its housing.
“Historically, there wasn’t much demand in those areas,” says Danielle Hale, realtor.com®’s chief economist. “Now that home prices are higher across the board, people are looking to those [more wallet-friendly] areas to buy. Columbus is super affordable with a median [home price of] $249,900 compared to the national listing price of $300,000. It attracts a lot of younger buyers.”
The 20 hottest housing markets in March, according to realtor.com®, were:
- Columbus, Ohio
- Boston
- Midland, Texas
- Sacramento, Calif.
- Stockton, Calif.
- Colorado Springs, Colo.
- Odessa, Texas
- Lafayette, Ind.
- San Francisco
- Modesto, Calif.
- Rochester, N.Y.
- Santa Cruz, Calif.
- Chico, Calif.
- Spokane, Wash.
- Milwaukee
- Akron, Ohio
- Ann Arbor, Mich.
- Manchester, N.H.
- Canton, Ohio
- Vallejo, Calif.
Source: “The Hottest Real Estate Markets in America for March 2019: Oh, Ohio?!” realtor.com® (April 10, 2019)
