Realtor.com® provided an early look at the May housing market with their ‘Advance Read on May Trends,’ a glimpse into residential real estate inventory and demand trends over the first 3 weeks of the month. For May 2015, the analysis of realtor.com®’s data indicates U.S. housing demand remains strong and continues to outpace supply even with some growth in inventory.
As part of his monthly analysis, Jonathan Smoke, realtor.com® chief economist, ranks the nation’s 20 hottest real estate markets. The rankings are based on a real estate hotness index, which is composed of two indicators reflective of demand and supply: the number of views per listing on realtor.com® and the median age of inventory in each market.
Nationally, the median list price increased to $228,000, up 7 percent year over year and 1 percent over April.
Median days on market, now at 66 days, continued a sharp decline, down 11 percent year over year and 10 percent month over month. Helping create more opportunities for buyers, the listings inventory is now growing faster, at 4 percent over April but still down over last year.
California dominated the “hottest” markets list with half of the country’s 20 hottest real estate markets. San Francisco and San Jose maintain the No. 2 and No. 3 spots from April rankings, respectively. California markets rank highly because of tight supply and economic-powered growth in demand.
Three states are represented twice: Texas with No. 4 Dallas-Fort Worth and No. 16 Austin; Colorado with No. 1 Denver and No. 13 Boulder; and Michigan with No. 9 Ann Arbor and No. 10 Detroit. These markets are also a reflection of economic-powered gains, but the Texas and Colorado story is more of a continuing saga and shows the resilience and diversified nature of the states’ economies despite the declines in oil. Michigan’s performance is related to economic recovery and very strong affordability.
Denver resoundingly maintained the top ranking as inventory there shaved 6 days off the median age while listing views grew 7 percent over April. Like Dallas, Denver is experiencing substantial economic growth, and the tight supply of housing is resulting in the fastest moving inventory in the country.
“On the demand side we are seeing traffic and searches on realtor.com® continue to set new highs,” says Smoke. “Unique users for the month are once again on pace for 40 percent growth year over year, while visits and searches are expected to be up more than 50 percent and 35 percent, respectively.”
Realtor.com’s 20 Hottest Real Estate Markets
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