Surging US Housing Markets Show Velocity & Price Support

Surging US housing markets is a phrase we have heard all too seldom in the past several years, but a surging housing market is what we’ve got. The US housing market is alive and well, at least with respect to the real estate market conditions in the cities listed below. And, if you’re looking to buy a house, you’d better bring your A game.

Return To A Seller’s Market

The title is correct, it’s high season in many US housing markets and many are once again seller’s markets. The cities on the below list are unquestionably surging US housing markets. Sales are brisk, time on market is contracting and housing prices are moving higher according to an analysis of US housing market data for March, compiled by Realtor.com.

Analysis Of Surging US Housing Markets

“We are now firmly in the time of the year when peak demand and peak inventory levels typically occur, through spring and early summer,” said Jonathan Smoke, chief economist for Realtor.com. “Buyers should expect substantial competition, especially in the hottest markets, and for affordably priced homes within most markets.”

Visitor traffic and searches for available homes on the Realtor.com website set new records last month. The real estate website recorded the highest number of unique visitors ever in March, with over 50% more page views than in March of the previous year and 40% more searches for homes for sale. That translates into several million visitors and home searches.

20 Hottest US Housing Markets

Where are those surging housing markets that have millions of visitors searching for homes? We’ve listed the 20 hottest housing markets in America below. Only the largest 200 real estate markets in the country are considered and the hottest markets were determined by the ratio of listing views relative to the number of listings.

Many of these real estate markets continue their surge from last month. New to the list of hottest housing markets this month are New Orleans, Austin, Pittsburgh, and Tampa which makes perfect sense, as all are affordable cities that are growing.

Housing Sales Velocity

The median list price for homes in the US was $220,000 in March, an 11% year over year increase and a 3% month over month increase from February. Houses are also selling more quickly, with days on the market dropping to 89, a 13% decline from March last year. Inventory, or the number of homes on the market grew 2% month over month, but is still down year over year.

While sales in the overall US housing market are improving, some US housing markets are selling really fast, and we’ve listed the 20 Fastest Selling US Housing Markets below. In these 20 markets, homes are selling at warp speed. They are ranked according to the median number of days spent on the market in March.

1. San Jose, CA (22 days)
2. San Francisco, CA (26 days)
3. Santa Rosa, CA (32 days)
4. Denver, CO (37 days)
5. Seattle, WA (37 days)
6. Boulder, CO (38 days)
7. Vallejo, CA (38 days)
8. Los Angeles, CA (41 days)
9. Minneapolis, MN (43 days)
10. San Diego, CA (43 days)
11. Santa Cruz, CA (43 days)
12. Fargo, ND (44 days)
13. Sioux Falls, SD (44 days)
14. Oxnard, CA (45 days)
15. Dallas, TX (46 days)
16. Portland, OR (46 days)
17. Austin, TX (48 days)
18. Greeley, CO (48 days)
19. Modesto, CA (48 days)
20. Sacramento, CA (48 days)

New to the list this month are Denver, Seattle, and Minneapolis, some more affordable and expanding cities, as well as (again) Austin.