Author: Hanna Jones on Realtor.com
Source: https://www.realtor.com/research/january-2022-hottest-housing-markets
Highlights
- Manchester, NH remains in the top spot on the hottest housing markets list in January for the 9th time in 12 months.
- The top 20 hottest markets are spread out across 12 states, with 5 locales in California, and 3 in North Carolina.
- January’s hottest markets move away from affordability, with less than half of the hottest markets’ median listing price below the national median.
- The Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL metro area again saw the largest increase in its Hotness ranking among larger metros compared to last year, securing its highest hotness ranking (39th) on record (available data going back to 2016).
Manchester, NH retained the top spot on the hottest housing markets list in January. This area originally topped the list back in August 2020, and has held the number one spot a total of 11 times. Manchester first cracked into the top 20 in May 2018, and has remained in the top 2 for eleven of the past twelve months.
Realtor.com’s Market Hotness rankings take into account two aspects of the housing market: 1) market demand, as measured by unique viewers per property on Realtor.com, and 2) the pace of the market as measured by the number of days a listing remains active on Realtor.com.
Affordability on the Decline in Hottest Markets
In much of 2021, pricey West coast markets lost some appeal due to a combination of affordability concerns and work-from-home flexibility, which spread activity out across the country. However, in January, California metros continued their comeback to the hottest markets list, with 5 California markets in January 2022. Overall, 12 of January’s hottest markets had median listing prices over the national median. The average listing price for the 20 hottest markets was $519,000 in January 2022, 38% higher than the national median. January’s hottest markets’ average listing price was the highest since March 2018, driven by seasonality and other factors. Overall, twelve states were represented on our list of top 20 hottest housing markets in January, paring down from August’s record-breaking 17 states.
California boasted five markets on the list in January including Santa Cruz-Watsonville, Vallejo-Fairfield, Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, Santa Maria-Santa Barbara and Yuba City. The West region has 8 markets, the most since March 2021, including the five California markets, Boulder, CO , Yuma, AZ, and Colorado Springs, CO. West region markets have returned to the list, as is typical in the winter, but haven’t yet reached the recent high of 11 West region hottest markets in December 2020. Southern and Midwestern markets each accounted for 5 of the top 20 markets, and the Northeast was represented by 2 markets. The regional representation in January was generally consistent with seasonal patterns, though the South was represented by more markets than in any January on record (back to 2016). North Carolina sustained its popularity, holding 3 metros on the list (Burlington, Raleigh and Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton).
The states featured in our top 20 list this month are: Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Indiana, Kansas, North Carolina, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, South Dakota and Wisconsin.
Our Hottest Housing Markets, by design, are the areas where homes sell fastest and have lots of potential buyers checking out each listing. As a group, Realtor.com’s 20 Hottest Housing Markets received 1.3 to 3.4 times the number of viewers per home for sale compared to the national rate. These markets are seeing homes-for-sale move up to 30 days more quickly than the typical property in the United States.
The median national home price for active listings remained at $375,000 in January, the same as the previous month. However, the median listing price grew by 10.3% year-over-year, a small acceleration from the annual rate of 10.0% in December. January’s hottest markets are a mix of highly desirable markets with a boost from seasonality, and more affordable markets. Buying in the South and West tends to be more popular in the winter, resulting in more expensive hottest markets.The hottest markets saw median listing prices reach $519,000 in January—38.4% higher, on average, than the national median of $375,000. Notably, the most expensive market on the list was again the Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA metro area, where the median listing price was $1,495,000, down 31.6% from January 2021.
January 2022 – Top 20 Hottest Housing Markets
| Metro | Hotness Rank | Hotness Rank YoY | Viewers per Property vs US | Median Days On Market | Days on Market YoY | Median Listing Price If Active Within Period |
| Manchester-Nashua, N.H. | 1 | 10 | 3.4 | 33 | -20 | $449,900 |
| Santa Cruz-Watsonville, Calif. | 2 | 23 | 2.1 | 42 | -16 | $1,199,000 |
| Topeka, Kan. | 3 | 5 | 1.9 | 41 | 3 | $159,900 |
| Rochester, N.Y. | 4 | 27 | 1.7 | 41 | -14 | $200,000 |
| Boulder, Colo. | 5 | 184 | 1.8 | 42 | -43 | $810,000 |
| Vallejo-Fairfield, Calif. | 6 | -5 | 1.5 | 34 | 1 | $584,000 |
| Burlington, N.C. | 7 | -4 | 1.8 | 45 | 6 | $325,000 |
| Raleigh, N.C. | 8 | 56 | 1.4 | 36 | -17 | $424,706 |
| Sebastian-Vero Beach, Fla. | 9 | 217 | 1.6 | 43 | -30 | $415,000 |
| North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton, Fla. | 10 | 171 | 1.9 | 48 | -19 | $525,000 |
| Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, Calif. | 11 | 11 | 1.4 | 41 | -10 | $945,000 |
| Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton, N.C. | 12 | 37 | 2.0 | 49 | -13 | $298,500 |
| Appleton, Wis. | 13 | 31 | 1.4 | 42 | -21 | $350,000 |
| Yuma, Ariz. | 14 | 12 | 1.3 | 31 | -18 | $299,000 |
| Columbus, Ohio | 15 | 6 | 1.4 | 43 | -9 | $299,900 |
| Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, Calif. | 16 | 46 | 1.9 | 50 | -14 | $1,495,000 |
| Rapid City, S.D. | 17 | -13 | 1.6 | 48 | 26 | $417,770 |
| Fort Wayne, Ind. | 18 | -11 | 1.6 | 46 | 2 | $249,900 |
| Yuba City, Calif. | 19 | -6 | 1.6 | 48 | -5 | $446,000 |
| Colorado Springs, Colo. | 20 | -18 | 1.3 | 35 | 0 | $494,401 |
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