March 2018's Hottest Housing Markets

As the spring homebuying season kicks off, Realtor.com's data show that a surge of new buyers, along with buyers that have been looking for months, are sending listing prices to record heights. The median list price had an 8 percent increase YOY in March 2018, surpassing summer 2017's peak.

Homebuyers on the hunt in 36 of the largest housing markets in the U.S. can expect homes selling a week faster than they were a year ago. Realtor.com's latest hot markets listing measures which metros' homes have the fewest days on the market, and have the most listing views on the website. San Francisco remained the number one city from last year, but Buffalo, New York, and Boston made the biggest moves. Buffalo cracked the top 20 for the first time since June 2015, and Boston went up 14 spots to number seven. California was the state most represented in the list, with 11 out of the top 20 hottest markets. Colorado and Texas each had two metros ranked.

"Never in history have there been more eyes on fewer homes than today," said Javier Vivas, director of economic research at realtor.com. "The price gains observed in the last days of March tell us the market is on pace to see half of the homes listed above $300,000 this summer. This means buyers are not just having to pay more for the same home—they’re also seeing the mix of what’s available change more rapidly. Nationally, homes are still moving faster than last March, but more critically, supply in the market is carrying baggage from even larger drops in the last two spring home-buying cycles."

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