Best And Worst Housing Markets: Is Your Town Winning As Mortgage Rates Fall?

Wondering how the housing market is doing where you live? Realtor.com, which tracks data and trends in the real estate space, assigns metro areas a "hotness score" based on available supply and demand of houses.

Here are some of the hottest, and coldest areas according to Realtor.

Starting With The Cold Areas:

Despite many people moving to southern states like Texas and Florida during the COVID-19 pandemic, most of the coldest housing markets are in the south, according to Realtor. The coldest market is in Houma-Thibodaux, Louisiana, with a supply score of 0.3 and a demand score of 0.

Other cities in Realtor's list of coldest real estate markets include Panama City, Florida; Bend, Oregon; Des Moines, Iowa and more. The scores factor in data points like available housing units and pricing shifts, as well as total amount of views on listings on sites like Realtor.com. Other companies that track real estate trends and data include Redfin Corp RDFN and Zillow Group Z. 

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The Hot Areas: 

Manchester-Nashua, New Hampshire tops Realtor.com's list of hottest markets, with a supply score of 99.7 and a staggering demand score of 100. Other areas on the hot list include Columbus, Ohio; Rochester, New York; Springfield, Massachusetts and more. 

Demand for mortgages has increased as rates have retreated from their 24-year highs in October of last year. Late in 2023, 30-year fixed mortgage rates surpassed 8%, their highest level since 2000. But, in the last few months, mortgage rates have come down slightly, closer to 7%, driving the demand higher for new homes and mortgages.

Although, Realtor.com's data shows significant weakness in metro areas on the Gulf Coast. There may be a pullback from the COVID-19 migration, in which many people moved from more northern cities to the south.

Because of these areas' proximity to the Gulf of Mexico, insurance costs are also higher to account for risks like hurricanes. So, just because the real estate market appears to be heating up, it doesn't mean that it's strong in every market throughout the United States. 

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