April 2023 Hottest Housing Markets

Highlights

• Concord, NH was the country’s hottest housing market in April, topping the list for the second time in the data’s history.
• The top 20 hottest markets are spread out across 11 states, with three metros in both Massachusetts and Connecticut.
• As price growth continues to slow nationwide, affordability remains a feature of the majority of April’s hottest markets.
• Only the Northeast and the Midwest were represented on this month’s hottest market list for the second month in a row. The Northeast was represented by 12 markets while the Midwest boasted 8.
• The St. Louis metro area saw the largest increase in its hotness ranking among larger metros compared to last year, climbing 115 spots to rank as the 91st hottest US market in April.

Concord, New Hampshire ranked as April’s hottest housing market. This is the 2nd time in the metro’s history that Concord has ranked as the nation’s hottest market. The first time Concord topped the list was in June 2022 and Concord has only been absent from the Top 20 list for 3 of the last 16 months. 

Realtor.com’s Market Hotness rankings take into account two aspects of the housing market: 1) market demand, as measured by unique views 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.

Relative Affordability Remains Important for Constrained Buyers

Overall, 13 of April’s hottest markets had median listing prices below the national median. The lowest priced market, Rockford, IL, had a median listing price of $180,000, 58.1% lower than the country’s April median listing price of $430,000. The average listing price for the 20 hottest markets climbed compared to last month as pricey Northeast markets joined the list, including the Boston metro. The average listing price of the top 20 markets was $409,000 in April, 4.9% lower than the national median. 

The Northeast and Midwest were the only regions represented on this month’s list for the second month in a row and the fourth time in the last 7 months. Northeast metros garnered an average 2.9 times the number of views per property as the typical US home while hot Midwest metro listings received 2.5 the number of views as was typical in the US. The hottest markets included three locales from Connecticut and Massachusetts and two each from Wisconsin, Ohio, New Hampshire, Maine and Indiana. One metros was featured from each Vermont, New York, Missouri and Illinois.The oft-featured Hartford, CT, and Worcester, MA metros stand out as these markets are also featured on the Top Markets Forecast for 2023. 

Nine of the twelve Northeast markets on this month’s list are clustered together, generally surrounding the Boston area.  Both Massachusetts and the larger New England area boast strong employment data, outpacing the US in employment growth over the last year. High housing demand and tight inventory keeps upward pressure on prices and as a result, buyers are looking further afield for affordability in the region. The Concord, Manchester-Nashua, Portland, and Worcester metro areas all border the Boston metro area, which is also on this month’s list, emphasizing the demand to be near this Northeast hub. These metros are bordered by the hot markets of Springfield, MA, New Haven, CT, Norwich, CT and Hartford, CT. All together, this 9 metro clump emphasizes the level of demand in the New England area. The other three hot Northeast metros were Burlington, VT, Rochester, NY and Bangor, ME. The number of active listings fell year-over-year in most of the hot Northeast metros as new listing activity failed to keep up with demand.

Affordable Midwest metros held 8 spots on this month’s list. The average listing price for these midwestern markets was $310,000, 27.8% below the national median, but an average 17.1% higher than one year ago for the markets included. Wisconsin, Ohio and Indiana each have 2 markets on the list, while Missouri and Illinois each have one. All of the Midwestern markets on the list were priced below the national median and garnered an average 2.5 times the number of views as the typical US listing. On average, homes in these Midwestern markets spent more than 2 weeks less time on the market than was typical in April in the US.

Our Hottest Housing Markets, by design, are the areas where homes sell fastest and have lots of potential buyers checking out each listing, suggesting relatively favorable conditions for sellers. As a group, Realtor.com’s 20 Hottest Housing Markets received 1.8 to 4.0 times the number of viewers per home for sale compared to the national rate. These markets are seeing homes-for-sale move up to 32 days more quickly than the typical property in the United States. Because homes in the hottest markets move fast, shoppers in these areas should be aware of conditions and have their finances in order, including a mortgage pre-approval, so that they can submit an offer quickly if they find a home that is a good fit. 

High Demand and Climbing Prices in Hottest Markets as Spring Picks Up

This spring’s housing market may be sluggish nationally, but April’s hottest markets are still seeing high demand and a quick pace of sale. Listing viewership in the hottest markets was an average of 2.7 times the typical level in the US in April, emphasizing the sustained popularity of these hot markets relative to the full US market. Homes in the hottest markets attract a greater-than-typical number of home shoppers, with a larger difference between the national market and the hottest market than was common in the years before the pandemic. The key takeaway for buyers and sellers here is that while national real estate trends are an important context, these trends can drive activity towards or away from certain markets, so local demand may be quite different from national demand.

While inventory has increased 48.3% relative to last April at the US-level, all of the hottest markets except Fort Wayne, IN have seen either slower inventory growth or even inventory decline. On the low side, Rockford, IL has seen inventory decrease 23.0% year-over year. This relatively low inventory growth is the result of high demand, coupled with lagging rates of new listing activity. This combination leads to short time on market, driving hot market status. 

The median national home price for active listings climbed to $430,000 in April, with price growth slowing to 2.5% year-on-year. The majority of April’s hottest markets are relatively affordable markets that fall below the national median price, despite seeing price growth that outpaces the national rate. On average, these hot markets have seen prices increase by 17.2% year-over-year, almost seven times the national rate of 2.5%. April is the ninth month in a row that the average hottest markets’ price growth climbed beyond US price growth, which has been falling since June. The wide-ranging search for affordability is driving relatively high price growth in otherwise affordable locales, a trend consistent with greater interstate home shopping observed in the Realtor.com Q4-2022 Cross Market Demand Report.

Price per square foot growth mirrored the median listing price trends in the hottest markets. Price per square foot growth in this month’s hot markets outpaced US growth, though the price was lower than the US median. The average hot market price per square foot was 2.0% lower than the typical US price in April, up an average 9.4% compared to last April, outpacing the US’ 1.2% price per square foot growth. 

April 2023 – Top 20 Hottest Housing Markets

Boston Area Markets Continue Their Reign

The Concord, NH metro area was the country’s hottest market this month. The nearby Manchester-Nashua took the second slot, continuing its reign at the top of the list. These Boston-adjacent hotspots saw high demand and quick market pace. Concord listings garnered 3.8 times the number of listing views as the typical US property in April while Manchester-Nashua received 3.4 times.

It seems Concord may have edged out Manchester-Nashua this month due to its slight affordability advantage. The median listing price of homes in the Concord metro area was $522,000 in April, up a sizable 21.5% year-over-year, faster than the 2.5% advance in the national median listing price in the same period. Nearby Manchester-Nashua was slightly higher priced with a median listing price of $533,000 in April, up 19.0% year-on-year. Both of these metros are far more affordable than nearby Boston, ranked 14th on this month’s list, where the median listing price was $839,000 in April, up 12.0% year-over-year. Other Boston-adjacent metros held spots on this month’s list, including Worcester and Sprigfield, MA. These areas, including Concord and Manchester-Nashua, offer buyers the opportunity to live near the Boston hub for a discount.

Listing price growth in Concord was due in part to a shift in home size mix. The median home for sale was 9.1% larger in April 2023 compared to the previous year. However, price per square foot grew 16.3% in the same timeframe, explaining the large increase in median listing price. 

Homes in Concord spent an average of just 17 days on the market in April, about a week more than this time last year but more than a month less than was typical in the US. 

Most Improved Large Markets

Larger urban markets heated up this month, with the largest 40 markets across the country getting 12 ranks hotter, on average, since April 2022. Large markets have heated up over the last couple months as more companies bring their employees back into the office. These large markets pulled in 10% more listing views on average than was typical in the US in April, and homes spent 8 days fewer on the market compared to the US.

In line with overall hottest market trends, all five of the most-improved large housing markets were in the Midwest: St. Louis, MO (+115 spots), Chicago, IL (+111 spots), Minneapolis, MN (+97 spots), Pittsburgh, PA (+88 spots),   and Cleveland, OH (+82 spots). Most of these markets offered highly sought-after affordability, with listing prices as much as $205,000 below the national median in Cleveland. Minneapolis, however, was priced 4.6% above the national median. 

The St. Louis, MO housing market saw the fastest year-over-year hotness growth in the metro’s data history, earning it the position of fastest-rising large market in April. In the first quarter of 2023, this metro received 43.5% of its out-of-metro attention from viewers within the Chicago metro according to Realtor.com Cross-Market Demand data. In April, the St. Louis area rose 115 spots in hotness rank compared to last year. The metro area clocked in as the 91st hottest metro in the US. Homes in St. Louis typically spent 43 days on the market in April, 6 days fewer than the typical US home. On the demand side, properties in the metro garnered 1.4 times the number of viewers as the typical US property. 

On the supply side, the five most-improved large markets saw inventory spend 42 days on the market, roughly a week more than last April but 7 days faster than the typical US home. In comparison, the largest 40 markets overall saw properties spend roughly 15 days more time on the market than last year, on average. 

Markets Seeing the Largest Jump in Rankings (April 2023)

Note: With the release of its February 2023 Housing Report and Data, Realtor.com® incorporated a new and improved methodology for capturing and reporting housing inventory trends and metrics. As a result of these changes, this release is not directly comparable with previous data releases and reports. However, future data releases, including historical data, will consistently apply the new methodology.