November 2021 Hottest Housing Markets

Highlights

• Burlington, NC returned to the top spot on the hottest housing markets list in November for the 4th time since November 2020.
• The top 20 hottest markets are spread out across 13 states, with Indiana and North Carolina represented with 3 metros each on the list.
• Affordability is a common factor among most of these top markets, with an average median list price among the top 20 of $367,000 in November—3.3% lower, on average, than the national median of $380,000.
• The Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL metro area saw the largest increase in its Hotness ranking among larger metros compared to last year.

Burlington, NC regained the top spot on the hottest housing markets list in November. This area originally topped the list back in November 2020, and has held the number one spot a total of 4 times. Burlington first cracked into the top 20 in May 2019, and has remained in the top 5 for eleven of the past twelve months.

Realtor.com’s Market Hotness rankings take into account two aspects of the housing market: 1) market demand, as measured by unique viewers 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.

Search for Affordability Continues to Drive Geographic Diversity

As pricey West Coast markets have lost some appeal due to a combination of affordability concerns and work-from-home flexibility, activity has spread out across the country. However, notably the pricey Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA market has emerged on the 20 hottest markets list in November as the country’s 5th hottest market. Overall, 13 states were represented on our list of top 20 hottest housing markets in November, paring down from August’s record-breaking 17 states.

California, which in January 2018 claimed 13 of the top 20 spots, now accounts for just two of the markets on our list, Eureka and Santa Maria-Santa Barbara. The West region has 3 markets, including the two California markets and Yuma, AZ, among the top 20, a notable decline from the 9 West region hottest markets in November 2020. Midwestern markets accounted for 9 of the top 20 markets, while the Northeast accounted for 4 of the top 20. Southern housing markets have sustained 4 spots among the top 20, up from two a year ago. North Carolina and Indiana sustained their popularity, holding 3 metros each on the list (Burlington, Raleigh and Durham-Chapel Hill, NC; Elkhart-Goshen, Fort Wayne, Lafayette-West Lafayette, IN) for the second month in a row.

The states featured in our top 20 list this month are: Arizona, California, Florida, Indiana, Kansas, Massachusetts, Missouri, North Carolina, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin.

Our Hottest Housing Markets, by design, are the areas where homes sell fastest and have lots of potential buyers checking out each listing. As a group, Realtor.com’s 20 Hottest Housing Markets received 1.3 to 3.1 times the number of viewers per home for sale compared to the national rate. These markets are seeing homes-for-sale move up to 13 days faster than the typical property in the United States. 

As home prices reach record highs nationally, the hottest markets largely represent affordable pockets of housing where buyers can find homes in their price range. The hottest markets saw median listing prices reach $367,000 in November—3.2% lower, on average, than the national median of $379,000. Notably, the most expensive market on the list is the number 5 Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA metro area. The median listing price in this area is a high $1,392,500.

November 2021 – Top 20 Hottest Housing Markets

Burlington Regains Top Spot

The Burlington, NC metro area has been a mainstay in the top 20 hottest markets since mid 2019. Homes in Burlington were selling in under 22 days in November—10 days faster than last year, and 25 days faster than is typical in the rest of the country. Properties in the metro drew in twice as many unique viewers per property as the typical home around the United States. 

The median listing price of homes in the Burlington area was $284,000 in November, down 3.5% year-over-year, slower than the 8.6% advance in the national median listing price in the same period. The typical home listing in Burlington, NC is priced 25.1% below the national median price of $379,000. The home size mix has shifted slightly since November 2020, with 10% more homes listed in the 750-1750 square foot tier, and 10% fewer listed in the 1750-3000 square foot tier. Due to a 7.9% decrease in median home size compared to November 2020, Burlington saw a decrease in median listing price despite price growth in each size tier. The median price per square foot in Burlington, however, saw an increase of 17.8% year-over-year. 

Most Improved Large Markets

Larger urban markets continue to cool down in the rankings, with the largest 40 markets across the country dropping by 10 spots, on average, since last year. 

Of the largest 40 metros, the most-improved housing markets were mostly in the South, with three of the five most improved in Florida: Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL (+164 spots); Tampa-St. Petersburg, FL (+89 spots); Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX (+74 spots); Jacksonville, FL (+42 spots); Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, CO (+41 spots).

After struggling in the early days of the pandemic, the Orlando, FL housing market is now seeing real estate sell faster and garner more interest, earning it the position of fastest-rising large market on our list for the fourth month in a row. In November, the Orlando area rose 164 spots in the rankings compared to last year, bringing it back into range of its typical rankings at this time of the season. The typical Orlando home spent a median time on market of 43 days, the shortest time for any November on record, according to available data going back to 2016. Moreover, the number of viewers per property in Orlando rose 94.1% year over year in November.

On the transaction side, the five most-improved large markets combined saw inventory move 11 days more quickly than last year. In comparison, the largest 40 markets overall saw properties sell 6 days faster than last year, on average. The time a typical property spent on the market in the most-improved markets was 41 days, 6 days shorter, on average, compared to the national rate.

Markets Seeing the Largest Jump in Rankings (November 2021)

Note: With the release of its November 2021 Hottest Markets report, Realtor.com® incorporated a new and improved methodology for capturing and reporting housing inventory trends and metrics. The new methodology uses the latest and most accurate data mapping of listing statuses to yield a cleaner and more consistent measurement of active listings at both the national and local level. The methodology has also been adjusted to better account for missing data in some fields including square footage. Most areas across the country will see minor changes with a smaller handful of areas seeing larger updates. As a result of these changes, the data released since December 2021 will not be directly comparable with previous data releases (files downloaded before December 2021) and Realtor.com® economics blog posts. However, future data releases, including historical data, will consistently apply the new methodology.