Manchester tops US housing market amid high demand

Manchester, New Hampshire, has emerged as the top housing market in the United States for January, according to a report by Realtor.com. The city regained its leading position after being overtaken by Springfield, Massachusetts, and Rockport, Illinois, in previous months.

"Manchester’s hotness means that high demand is met with low inventory as buyers claim available homes," said Hannah Jones, a senior economic research analyst at Realtor.com. "The ongoing demand in the area has prevented inventory from recovering, keeping attention-pre-property high and market pace snappy."

In January, Manchester's median list price reached $579,000—a nearly 4% increase from December. Despite this rise in prices, properties sold quickly with an average of 46 days on the market compared to the national median of 73 days. Listings in Manchester attracted almost four times more viewers than typical U.S. listings during the same period.

Located 55 miles from Boston, Manchester offers attractive features such as a good school system and outdoor activities. Additionally, New Hampshire residents benefit from no sales or income taxes and had the lowest poverty level in the U.S., at 7.2% in 2023.

Hartford, Connecticut ranked second on Realtor.com's list for January due to high viewer interest per property. The Northeast and Midwest regions have consistently dominated this list since mid-2022 when mortgage rates began increasing.

"The Midwest and Northeast have reigned supreme as homes to most of the country’s hottest markets since mid-2022," Jones noted.

New entries on January's list included Concord (NH), Rochester (NY), Boston (MA), and Bloomington (IL). Notably, Bloomington appeared for the first time among the top 20 hottest markets.

While national home prices decreased by 2.2% year over year in January, prices rose by 1.5% among these hottest markets due to increased demand measured through views per property on Realtor.com.

"Housing affordability continues to be a challenge for home shoppers as home prices and mortgage rates refuse to budge significantly," Jones explained. However, new construction provides buyers with attractive pricing options and incentives.

Southern housing markets continued their cooling trend into January while large U.S. markets saw some improvement despite cooling overall compared with last year.

Philadelphia showed significant improvement among large cities—jumping up 57 spots—and was joined by New York City and Kansas City which also climbed substantially on Realtor.com's ranking scale.

"Large often high-priced markets are starting to adjust to subdued buyer demand by lowering home prices," added Jones while discussing shifts occurring within larger metro areas across America today."Some of slowing price growth both nationally—and largest—is due change mix inventory sale."