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People are apparently dreaming of the Northeast.
Eight of the top 10 markets people searched on Zillow this year were in the northeastern part of the U.S., according to a new report from the search portal giant. All 10 were east of the Mississippi River and all but one had populations below 100,000.
They were driven by a search for affordability, Zillow economists said.
“Affordability was the word on home shoppers’ minds this year, and it shows in the most popular cities that buyers on Zillow gravitated toward,” Zillow Chief Economist Skylar Olsen said. “Heading into next year, the winds appear to be shifting just a bit. Buying a home will still be expensive in much of the country, but more listings and much flatter home price growth will make life easier for home shoppers.”
Zillow created the list of most popular markets by analyzing search data that shows consumer demand. That includes total page views, home value growth and days on market.
More people searched for homes in West Chester, Pennsylvania, than anywhere, Zillow said.
The median home price in that town of about 18,000 an hour west of Philadelphia was $565,000, according to Realtor.com. Home values in West Chester grew by 8 percent in 2023, Zillow reported, and nearly two-thirds of the pageviews for homes there were from outside the city.
Nearly all the other towns on the list were also small. Manchester, New Hampshire, a town of about 115,000, was the only one on the list with more than 100,000 residents.
Seven of the top 10 most popular markets this year were in New England, Zillow said, specifically New Hampshire and Connecticut.
- West Chester, Pennsylvania
- Nashua, New Hampshire
- Manchester, New Hampshire
- Wethersfield, Connecticut
- West Hartford, Connecticut
- Stow, Ohio
- Middletown, Connecticut
- Twinsburg, Ohio
- Newington, Connecticut
- Concord, New Hampshire
Among cities with populations over 250,000, Zillow said Chula Vista, California, where homes cost a bit less than nearby San Diego, was the most popular. That was followed by Fort Wayne, Indiana; San Diego; Cincinnati; and Durham, North Carolina.
