These Were the 20 Hottest US Housing Markets in June

Things may be generally sluggish in the national housing market at the moment, but there some parts of the country—most notably metros in the Northeast and Midwest—that are plenty hot, according to Realtor.com's June roundup of Hottest Housing Markets. Topping the list is Hartford, Conn., where homes spent just 18 days on the market in June (that's less than half the national median), followed by Manchester and Concord in New Hampshire.

Not surprisingly, affordability is a driving force in home sales, though how long the "hottest" metro areas will remain affordable (and therefore desirable to buyers) is an unknown. On average, Realtor.com says, the metros in June's hottest list have seen prices jump by 16.1% over the past year, even as the national median price has dipped.

The median-priced home in the Hartford metro area was $429,000 in June, below the national median of $445,000. Real estate in the capital of Connecticut cost far less than in New York City, about 2.5 hours southwest, where the median list price was $749,000 in June, according to Realtor.com data. It was also significantly cheaper than in Boston, about a 90-minute drive northeast without traffic. The median list price in the Boston metro was about $864,000 in June.

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