The Surprising City Where Homes Take Just 11 Days To Sell—Can You Guess?

America’s housing market may be slowing down nationwide, but in certain areas, homes are still selling at a breakneck pace—and few would ever be able to guess where these quick-sale boomtowns are hiding.

As proof, look no further than the fastest market of all, where homes spend a mere 11 days on the market before getting snapped up: Manchester, NH.

This unexpected finding comes from the Realtor.com® Hottest Markets List, which ranks housing markets based on two factors: the number of views per listing and how quickly they move through the sales process. In May, Manchester homes attracted three times as many views as the national average, in addition to selling more than a month faster than what it typically takes for a home to close.

Manchester has taken this top spot 19 times in this data’s history, and for good reason: It’s within commuting distance of pricey Boston. While Manchester’s median-priced home in May was $523,000, admittedly higher than the national median of $441,000, it’s still far less than Boston’s $867,000, making it the perfect bedroom community of its more expensive neighbor.

After Manchester, at No. 2, was Concord, NH, with a median listing price of $526,000. At Nos. 3 and 4, Hartford, CT, and Rochester, NY, boast prices lower than the national average. (Metros include the main city and surrounding towns, suburbs, and smaller urban areas.)

What today’s hottest markets have in common

May’s hottest markets rankings serve as a solid reminder that the state of real estate is always local, despite national trends.

“The late spring housing market may be sluggish nationally, but May’s hottest markets are still seeing high demand and a quick pace of sale,” Hannah Jones, economics data analyst at Realtor.com, wrote in the report.

“The key takeaway for buyers and sellers here is that while national real estate trends are an important context, these trends can drive activity towards or away from certain markets, so local demand may be quite different from national demand.”

And amid this national slowdown, certain regions of the U.S. clearly have the edge. The Northeast boasts 13 markets among the top 20, while the Midwest has the remaining seven. Western and Southern markets were nowhere to be seen.

“The Northeast has it all, from big business centers with strong employment and good job opportunities, to access to the coast and mountains and high-quality education,” Jones said. “It makes sense that there’s so much demand to be in that area. That’s what a lot of people are looking for.”

Another priority for home shoppers today is that they’re rooting through listings searching for bargains—although “bargain” is a relative term based on where you live. Buyers are more price-sensitive than usual because mortgage rates have remained stubbornly high.

“While buyers have adjusted to that reality, it still takes a bit out of their budget,” Jones noted. “Even if you can wrap your mind around it, you may not be able to wrap your budget around it.”

Why hot markets may not remain bargains for long

It’s also important to note that popularity can have a downside, at least for buyers searching for deals.

“On average, these hot markets have seen prices increase by 16.5% year-over-year, far higher than the national rate of price growth,” Jones noted in her report. “May is the tenth month in a row that the average hottest markets’ price growth climbed beyond U.S. price growth, which has been falling since June.”

In fact, Jones and other experts believe that the South and West are out of favor right now simply because they got too expensive after being so popular for so long. Could something like that happen in the Northeast and Midwest?

No one knows, but one thing is sure: If you’re on the fence, now is probably the right time to check them out, since as Jones noted, “Who knows how much longer they’ll remain affordable?”

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