15 of America's Still-Hot Housing Markets, By ZIP Code

Surging prices and interest rates -- along with inflation and recession fears affecting millions of personal economies -- have finally turned the national housing market around and down. The National Association of Realtors says sales of existing homes fell by nearly 6% in July, continuing six months of steady decline that has the year-over-year sales pace down by just over 20%.

But there are still hot pockets. Realtor.com looked at the data to produce a list of the hottest markets by ZIP code, based on viewers per property and median days on market from January through June.

Here are the top 15 communities in the national listing service's eighth-annual Hottest ZIP Codes Report just released on Aug. 16. Interestingly, eight of the top 12 are in the Northeast, a full half in New England. And none are west of the Mississippi.

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This popular suburb of Rochester has a population of about 36,000, good schools, and "a lot of bars, restaurants, coffee shops, and parks," according to Niche.com.

Realtor.com says listings have drawn an average of 4.2 times the average online views nationwide and that the median time on market is only six days, while the national median is about 35 days. Brighton's median listing price in June was $275,000, compared to the national median of about $404,000.

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At this writing, there were 34 homes listed on Realtor.com in this ZIP code. About 40 miles from Boston, Nashua's listings are attracting 4.6 times the views of the national median. Homes are selling at a median price of about $536,000 after an average of only seven days on market -- pricey by national standards but a deal compared to nearly $800,000 for Boston itself.

The 50 homes listed on Realtor.com in this long-popular Columbus suburb's ZIP code range from about $100,000 to more than $1 million. Average views is 3.9 times the national average, and the median price of $467,000 is above the national median of about $400,000, but there's a wide range to choose from here. The median days on market, meanwhile, is seven.

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Derry, New Hampshire, like nearby Nashua, is about 40 miles from Boston. The town is home to around 34,000 people, and the 58 homes in this ZIP code are attracting online views at about 3.6 times the national pace on Realtor.com. The median listing price is $447,000, and the median time on market is about seven, compared to the national median of 35 days.

With a population of only about 19,000, this ZIP code in Southwest Maine includes the communities of Windham, Gorham, and Popeville and has a homeownership rate, according to Niche.com, of 88%.

Windham is about 120 miles from Boston, and homes there carry a median listing price of $505,000, attract online views at 4.2 times the national median, and spend 10 days on the market, according to Realtor.com.

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This old steel town in the Lehigh Valley is close to Allentown and about an hour and a half from Philadelphia and New York City. There are 40 homes listed in the 18017 ZIP code at this writing, and they range from about $175,000 to $1.4 million, with most somewhere in the middle.

The median listing price is $424,000, and the median time on the market is eight days, with a viewing that Realtor.com says is 3.7 times the national median.

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Johnson City is unlike the others on the list. It's a city of about 71,000 people in East Tennessee, not far from the Virginia and North Carolina borders and just west of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

The 37604 ZIP code currently has 120 listings ranging from $60,000 to more than $1.2 million, and the median viewing rate is 3.7 times the national median, says Realtor.com. The median time on market is 10 days, and the typical home is listed at $329,000.

Hooksett is a growing town -- up by about 1,400 people in a decade to 14,871 in the 2020 census. It's a suburb of the Granite State's largest city, Manchester, and, according to Niche.com, has good schools and a "sparse, suburban feel."

There are 39 homes listed in this ZIP code at this writing, with Realtor.com viewings of about 3.3 times the national median and a median price of $482,000. The median for days on market is 10, compared with about 35 for the national median.

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North Attleboro is about a half hour north of Providence and an hour south of Boston. The median price here is $587,000, and the viewing rate is 2.7 times the national rate, Realtor.com says.

Homes were selling in five days, and listings at this writing ranged from $170,000 for a 615-square-foot condo to $1.15 million for a newly built house of 4,144 square feet.

Auburn and its sister city, Lewiston, are about 130 miles north of Boston and 40 miles north of Portland. Auburn has about 24,000 residents, and homes here have a median listing price of $267,000, well below the national median of just more than $400,000.

Homes are viewed online at 3.4 times the national rate, Realtor.com says, and the median time on market before a sale is 12 days.

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Cary is a town of about 175,000 people and is part of the fast-growing Raleigh-Cary metropolitan statistical area. Realtor.com showed 73 homes for sale in this ZIP code, with a median listing price of $442,000, a viewing rate of 2.7 times the national rate, and eight days as the median time on market.

Niche.com says this ZIP code has about 34,000 residents and a dense, urban feel and gives it an A+ for schools, housing, nightlife, families, jobs, and diversity.

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Fort Wayne is in northeast Indiana, about 20 miles from the Ohio border. The city population is about 264,000, and the metro area has around 419,000 residents altogether. Niche.com gives this particular ZIP code of about 13,000 residents a sterling score of A+ for its rural feel, schools, housing, and appeal to families.

The median price is $525,000 for the 49 homes listed at this writing, nearly three times the median for the Fort Wayne market as a whole. And Realtor.com says the median viewing rate is 3.1 times the national average, with 11 days as the median time on market.

The 40223 ZIP code includes some of the more expensive areas of Louisville, itself the largest city on this list, with a population of about 600,000 and a metro area of about 1.4 million. The median price in this ZIP code is $395,000, and Niche.com gives it good grades for schools, jobs, diversity, housing, and families.

Realtor.com, at this writing, shows 56 homes listed from about $140,000 to about $2.2 million. The average viewing rate is 3.1 times the national rate, and the typical home sits on the market for 12 days -- the highest on this list but still a third of the national median.

Novi is a popular Northwestern suburb in metro Detroit, not far from Ann Arbor. The population of about 66,000 has grown by around 20% in the past decade.

Realtor.com shows 34 homes in this ZIP code at this writing, with a viewing rate of 2.8 times the national average and a median time on market of seven days. There were 34 homes listed from this ZIP code, ranging from $140,000 to $825,000, with a median listing price of $440,000.

At this writing, Realtor.com lists about 80 West Hartford houses, ranging from $1.8 million to $112,000 and says the homes here are viewed at 3.1 times the national rate and go under contract in about 10 days. The median price is close to the national average, at $412,000.

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The majority of these are in the Northeast and appear to be driven by a desire to be near the big city when necessary but have the space and lifestyle amenities of suburban life, says Realtor.com. Existing home sales did slide by 7.5% in a single month there, but the median price was still 8% above last year at this time. The housing recession may have arrived, but it's not yet shown up in the price tags. We'll be watching for that next.

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