These Are The Top Housing Markets In The U.S.
Seven of the nation’s 20 most desirable housing markets are in Wisconsin, as measured by buyer demand, low inventory and price growth, according to a September 2025 report from Realtor.com. The remainder were scattered through the Northeast, which along with the Midwest, have been the only regions on the hottest market lists for two consecutive years.
The desirability of these markets stands in contrast to the nation’s 40 largest metros, where demand is cooling.
What makes a market hot, in the report’s terms, are the number of times each property is viewed on the Realtor.com website, and the number of days a listing remains active.
Springfield, MA, emerged as the hottest of the hot for the fifth month in a row. Springfield attracted 3.1 times the viewers per property compared to the national level and homes spent about a month less time on the market, according to the report. The median listing price of a home in the metro, $370,000, helped lure potential buyers from larger, higher-priced cities nearby.
“High demand and low inventory have driven the larger Boston/New England area to the top of the hot markets list over the past few years as views per property and time on the market outpace the rest of the country,” the report said.
Wisconsin’s contribution to the top 20 list includes Kenosha (3), Appleton (5), Wausau (5), Racine-Mt. Pleasant (7), Janesville-Beloit (9), Green Bay (10), and Milwaukee-Waukesha (19). All but Green Bay were priced below the national median, attracting an average of 2.8 times the viewers and selling an average of 27 days faster.
Nationwide, however, for sale inventory rose 17% year-over-year in September and higher, even in five of the top 20 markets. In Nashua, NH, inventory increased by 31.8%, pushing the metro from its first place ranking to 13th. Other cities in the top 20 with increased inventory included Reading, PA, Worcester, MA, and Janesville-Beloit, WI.
“The country’s largest markets have cooled off on average for the last year-plus as buyers seek out smaller locales in pursuit of affordability,” the report noted.
However, the nation’s 40 largest markets that are major job centers remain attractive, and sellers in some of these markets are now making adjustments, drawing more viewers on the website with homes spending less time on the market than the U.S. median. Sellers appear to be lowering prices by an average of 0.9% in recognition of the new market realities, the report found.
Source: GlobeSt/ALM