Colorado Spring was ranked the hottest housing market for the second consecutive month with half of all homes selling in under 28 days, according to an analysis by Realtor.com.
As the housing market transitioned to respond to the COVID-19 outbreak in March, in-person buyer behaviors may have decreased, but the most in-demand markets were still seeing plenty of listing views and closing sales throughout the month.
Realtor.com’s hottest markets list reflects the ongoing shift from larger and pricier metropolises to what have been traditionally considered secondary markets. These locales often have lower population density too, which may be attractive to buyers in the current climate of the pandemic.
Javier Vivas | Realtor.com
“Less dense cities have seen less need for social distancing,” Javier Vivas, director of economic research at Realtor.com, said in a statement.
“The top 20 list for March is not fully reflective of the effect of the coronavirus,” Vivas added. “We’re still about a month away from seeing how supply and demand are going to play out at the local level.”
In Colorado Springs, those homes that sold in under 28 days sold an average of nine days faster than in 2019 and about 32 days faster than homes in the rest of the U.S. Properties in the metro area earned 2.4 times as many views than average properties throughout the rest of the country.
The 20 hottest markets gained 1.8 to 3.0 times the number of views per home for sale compared to the national rate, with homes moving 28 to 47 days faster than the average home.
California, Colorado, Connecticut, Indiana, Kansas, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, Washington and Wisconsin were all represented in the list of hottest markets, with California sweeping seven of the hottest markets and New Hampshire not far behind, carrying three of the hottest markets.
Realtor.com
The 40 largest urban markets declined in popularity, dropping by an average of 9 spots since March 2019. Western markets made the greatest improvement out of all regions, rising the ranks by an average of three spots since last year. In contrast, Midwestern markets collectively fell 8 spots in the rankings while Southern markets fell 23 spots and Northeastern markets fell 5 spots.
Realtor.com
Out of the largest 40 metro areas, Columbus, Ohio, improved the greatest over the past year with a ranking gain of 53 spots.
In Arizona, Phoenix, Mesa and Scottsdale gained 49 spots.
In Rhode Island and Massachusetts, Providence and Warwick gained 33 spots.
In California, San Jose, Sunnyvale and Santa Clara gained 29 spots.
And in Nevada, Las Vegas, Henderson and Paradise gained 22 spots. On average, properties in these markets are seeing 68 percent more views than the typical U.S. property.
