These Real Estate Markets Are Ignoring the Housing Crunch   

The US housing market has been anything but predictable. As we said goodbye to 2022, experts and media alike sounded the alarm about a market slowdown as high mortgage rates persisted. Sure, they were right! Sales activity significantly slowed to start January 2023, reaching their lowest point in eight years. The supply of homes also steadily increased. 

Yet it was too early to praise their forecasting prowess. Sure, the national median home price initially dropped almost 5% from July 2022. However, home prices bounced back from their rapid decline in the first half of 2023. The median home price in July 2023 rose another 1% compared to the previous year, marking a 6% increase from its January 2023 low.

Bucking the trend

Certain markets are sizzling as if the near-8% mortgage rates and slowing pricing growth are a work of fiction. These housing markets report listed homes are closing in under two months, double-digit price growth, and sustained high demand.

What’s going on? Well, determined home buyers are realizing economic conditions won’t be improving any time soon. Despite rising mortgage rates, they are willing to do whatever it takes to purchase a home. Given the shortage of available homes, that’s pushing prices and increasing sales activity in these hot markets.

While these defying housing markets are scattered across the US, the low-cost housing markets are generally booming. Home buyers who can be flexible with where they live have a chance to buy a home at a fraction of the national median price– $435,450 in August 2023. 

So, where are homes on the move? There are two metrics to look at: median days on the market and median prices.

Where home sales are picking up pace

Certain cities are seeing their days on the market drop rather than grow, showing an increasing demand for homes. Compared to this time in 2022, the sales pace gained steam in:

Buffalo, NY

Median price: $239,900

Phoenix, AZ

Median price: $475,000

Oxnard, CA

Median price: $875,000

Boise, ID

Median price: $519,900

Las Vegas, NV

Median price: $449,999

Bridgeport, CT

Median price: $795,000

Harrisburg, PA

Median price: $309,900

Springfield, MA

Median price: $319,000

Cleveland, OH

Median price: $199,000

Portland, ME

Median price: $549,900

Lowest median days on the market

But it’s not just which markets are accelerating but which continue to maintain a high pace of home sales despite everything else happening around them. One such market is Gahanna, Ohio, part of the Columbus metro area. Here, homes spent a median of 13 days on the market. Compare that to the national median of 46 days on the market.

That means most Gahanna homes were under contract in just under two weeks. The median home price here was $351,000. 

Other cities with some of the fastest-selling zip codes in 2023 were:

Gahanna, OH: 13 days

Median price: $351,000

Southington, CT: 18 days

Median price: $368,000

Ridgewood, NJ: 18 days

Median price: $1,184,000

Andover, MA: 19 days

Median price: $992,000

Nazareth, PA: 18 days

Median price: $429,000

Highland, IN: 19 days

Median price: $268,000

Trenton, MI: 20 days

Median price: $238,000

Norwalk, CT: 23 days

Median price: $596,000

Median sales price on the rise

Sales prices can be another sign of high demand and market interest. In that respect, the southeast is booming, with multiple markets reporting double-digit pricing growth. It shouldn’t surprise you that three of the top ten metro markets are in Florida. Their year-over-year pricing growth was:

Miami Beach, FL: 24%

Alexandria VA: 23%

Tallahassee, FL: 23%

Myrtle Beach, SC: 22%

Charleston, SC: 20%

Tampa, FL: 20%

Scranton, PA: 18%

Rockford, IL: 16%

Hartford, CT: 15%

Albany, NY: 14%

Many of these markets are in warm-weather areas, with growing job markets and the promise of a better quality of life. That’s why the Tampa metro is up 20% year-over-year. The housing crunch isn’t helping, which is why prices are rising so quickly.

And if you look closer at individual cities and bring in smaller metros, the results can be more dramatic. Elizabeth City, NC, had 116% price growth from August 2022 to August 2023.

So, if you’re on the hunt for homes in one of these markets, chances are you’re seeing increasing sales activity or dramatic pricing growth. That’s why real estate is so hyper-local. The insights and knowledge of a local real estate agent are invaluable to achieving your real estate goals. Where other markets may be cooling, yours may be oblivious to the overarching market conditions.