May 'Hottest Homebuying Season on Record'

Along with an historic sales pace and record listing prices, the map of hottest housing markets in the nation shifted notably in May.

New analysis of May's data reveals that this year's homebuying season is the hottest on record, according to director of economic research at Realtor.com, Javier Vivas, "The frantic activity observed means homes are spending 32 fewer days on the market compared to 2012." The website's latest ranking of the hottest metros in the nation revealed that California's "endless reign" of dominating the top 20 is over, for now, while Midland, Texas takes the top spot for the second time in two months. In fact, the top five markets were unchanged from April 2018, with Boston, San Francisco, Columbus, Ohio, and Vallejo, Calif. rounding out the top spots, respectively.

The median listing price reached $297,000 in May, an increase of 8 percent YOY. While the supply of housing is still tight, there was a slightly larger than usual seasonal increase in inventory as owners sought to capture peak prices. About 557,000 new listings hit the market in May, 8 percent more than April and 2 percent more than May of the previous year. The total inventory of homes for sale grew 6 percent over April, more than the 4 percent average increase in previous Mays going back to 2012.

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