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Highlights

• Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, Conn., claimed the top spot this month, ranking as the country’s hottest market for the fourth time in the data’s history (back to mid-2017).
• Prices fell 0.8% nationally, but the month’s hottest markets saw slight price growth (+0.9%) due to high demand and scarce for-sale inventory.
• The Northeast and the Midwest were the only regions on this month’s list with 12 and 8 markets, respectively. February’s list is the 17th in a row that contains only Northeast and Midwest markets.
• On average, 13.2% of homes in the hottest markets saw a price reduction, more than 3 percentage points lower than the national norm. 
• The Philadelphia metro area saw the biggest jump in its hotness ranking among large U.S. metros compared with last year, climbing 77 spots to rank as the 58th hottest U.S. market in February.

The Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, Conn., metro area ranked as the country’s hottest housing market in February, taking the crown for the first time since June 2023. This Northeast metro has ranked No. 1 a total of four times and has been in the top 10 since April.  

The Realtor.com® Market Hotness rankings take into account two aspects of the housing market: 1) market demand, as measured by unique views per property on Realtor.com, and 2) the pace of the market as measured by the number of days a listing remains active on Realtor.com.

Market pace picks up in more than half of the hottest markets

The average market pace in the hottest markets was snappier than the national pace. Moreover, in more than half of the hottest markets, market pace picked up year over year. Homes spent 66 days on the market in February nationally. In the hottest markets, homes spent between 33 and 51 days on the market, between two weeks and a month less than the national norm. 

Low time on the market is one product of high buyer demand. Homes in the hottest markets garnered between 2 and 4.2 times the number of viewers compared with the typical U.S. home. More buyer attention means more competition among buyers, which tends to result in higher home prices. Toledo, OH (+24.4%), Reading, PA (+10.6%), and Providence-Warwick, RI (+7%), saw the highest price growth among the hottest markets. On average, prices increased 0.9% year over year in the country’s hottest markets, outpacing the national price growth (-0.8%).

This month’s hottest market, Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, Conn., saw more than four times the listing views per property as the national median in February. Homes sold in an average of 38 days, and home prices climbed 6.6% year over year in the market. Despite these red-hot conditions, for-sale inventory picked up 4.4% in Hartford, showing a touch of progress toward more balance.

Hot markets see lower share of price reductions

By definition, the country’s hottest markets see high buyer demand and quick home sales, which suggests sellers are in a more favorable position. On average, 13.2% of homes in these markets saw a price reduction, more than 3 percentage points lower than the national norm. Moreover, nine of the 20 hottest markets saw the share of homes with a price reduction fall year over year, compared with a 2.2 percentage point increase nationally.

Interestingly, the areas with the lowest share of price reductions were some of the list’s more expensive markets, such as Bridgeport-Stamford, CT (7.8%), Concord, NH (7.9%), Manchester-Nashua, NH (9.9%), and the country’s hottest market, Hartford, CT (9.9%).

More competitive market conditions are good for sellers, but they make buying more difficult for hopeful homeowners. On the bright side, more than half of the hottest markets were priced lower than the national median, meaning persistent buyers might still be able to get a good deal in these in-demand metros. 

Market hotness varies regionally

Over the past 17 months, only the Northeast and Midwest markets have ranked in the top 20 hottest housing markets in the country. The West hasn’t had a market ranked in the top 20 since February 2023, and the last time the South and the West accounted for more than half of the nation’s hottest markets was in December 2021. 

Though the dominance of the Northeast and Midwest seems long-standing, the hottest markets list was fairly well distributed before and during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the South’s generally abundant home supply has kept its hotness relatively tempered throughout the data’s history.

This recent regional result makes sense when you look at broader market statistics. The West and the South have seen the biggest annual increase in inventory compared with the other regions, with for-sale home options increasing 37.4% and 29.9% year over year, respectively. More homes on the market means a slower market pace and less buyer attention per property, cooling the two metrics that measure hotness.

February 2025: Top 20 Hottest Housing Markets

Not in the top 20? See rankings for the top 300 markets

Most improved large markets

The 40 largest markets across the country cooled by 10 spots in hotness rank, on average, compared with last year. This is the biggest slowdown since March 2022 and the sixth month in a row that large markets have cooled annually. Nevertheless, these areas pulled in 14.8% more views per listing than was typical in the U.S. in February, and homes spent 14 fewer days on the market than the U.S. median. Prices fell an average of 1.6% in these markets, the ninth month in a row of large-market average annual price decline. 

Large, often high-priced, markets continue to adjust to subdued buyer demand by lowering home prices and selling smaller, more affordable homes. Some of the slowing price growth both nationally and in the largest markets is due to a change in the mix of inventory for sale.

The most improved housing markets were Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, Pa.-N.J.-Del.-Md. (77 spots hotter), New York-Newark-Jersey City, N.Y.-N.J.-Pa. (48 spots hotter), Kansas City, Mo.-Kan. (45 spots hotter), Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, Md. (44 spots hotter), and Indianapolis-Carmel-Anderson, Ind. (21 spots hotter). This month’s fastest-climbing markets ranked between 58th (Philadelphia) and 206th (New York City) on February’s list. 

Large Markets With the Biggest Jump in Rankings (February 2025)

What does this mean for buyers, sellers, and the housing market?

Not much has changed in terms of the country’s hottest markets. Affordable Midwest markets and well-located Northeast markets are still at the helm as buyers look for relative affordability. The country’s hottest markets still see relatively high demand, but even these bustling markets saw annual price growth soften to 0.9% on average in February, notching the lowest hot market price growth in the data’s history as the overall housing market searches for balance.

Though mortgage rates fell for a sixth consecutive week, they remain in the high 6% range, inspiring little movement from buyers and sellers. New-home sales and pending home sales, both of which are based on contract signings, fell in January, suggesting that buyers continue to feel the pressure of widespread unaffordability, and may be continuing to wait to get into the market until conditions improve. The spring market is set to blossom in the coming weeks and should bring a pop in market activity, much to the delight of buyers and sellers alike.