Study shows hottest housing zip codes for US – Business News
America’s hottest housing markets are all positioned within the Northeast and Midwest, based on a new ZIP code-level evaluation of essentially the most in-demand housing markets.
Realtor.com launched its hottest ZIP codes report for 2026, which discovered that these two areas swept the highest 10 rankings for the fourth consecutive 12 months.
Hannah Jones, senior economist at Realtor.com, informed FOX Business in an interview that “a lot of these ZIP codes fall in suburbs that are on the outer ring of major metro areas like Boston, New York, Philadelphia.”
“It kind of paints this picture that you can still commute to the busy city center for your job, but you’re taking your big city income where you can get a little more bang for your buck, more space, more of that established suburban quiet life,” she stated.
The hottest housing markets are within the Northeast and Midwest for 2026, per a new research. BullRun – stock.adobe.com
Housing provide within the communities that comprised the highest 10 of this 12 months’s rankings is very tight, as Jones famous that stock ranges are operating about 60% under pre-pandemic ranges in these communities – whereas inventories throughout the nation are simply 11% under the place they had been earlier than the pandemic.
She additionally stated that many home customers in these markets are coming from within the metro space they’re closest to, versus being from outdoors the area to maneuver, including that “we’re not seeing as much of that cross-country migration type of buyer demand.”
Another attribute of these markets is that the shortage is driving consumers to pay above asking price, with 9 of the highest 10 seeing properties sell at or above asking price with an average sale-to-list ratio of 103.8%. Around the nation, the everyday home offered for about 2.3% under its record price within the first half of 2026.
Buyers are additionally placing more money down when buying a home within the ZIP codes that make up the highest 10 rankings versus the national average.
“When we’re looking at these buyer profiles, we see that they tend to put down a lot as a down payment. Across these 10 top ZIP codes, the typical buyer is putting down about 17% as the down payment, compared to about 13% nationally – and both of those figures are also higher than they were even before the pandemic,” Jones stated.
“We also know they tend to have higher credit scores, and all this is pointing to this idea that today’s borrowers have to be more financially equipped and financially ready to participate in today’s housing market because with mortgage rates in the mid-to-high 6% range,” she stated.
Peabody, Massachusetts took the highest spot for the best zip code for 2026, primarily based on market demand and different elements. Wangkun Jia – stock.adobe.com
The research additionally discovered that properties have offered under an average of 2.3% of the listed price in 2026 to date. phonlamaiphoto – stock.adobe.com
Jones added that the consumers who’re taking part in these markets “tend to be very financially able to participate, they have a little bit more money to put down, and they’re more financially robust than the typical U.S. buyer.”
Realtor.com’s rankings are primarily based on an algorithm that considers market demand primarily based on distinctive viewers per property on the Realtor.com web site, in addition to the tempo of the market as measured by the quantity of days a itemizing stays actively listed on the platform.
Here’s Realtor.com’s record of the hottest ZIP codes in America:
1) 01960 – Peabody, Massachusetts
2) 07042 – Montclair, New Jersey
3) 08080 – Sewell, New Jersey
4) 14450 – Fairport, New York
5) 01085 – Westfield, Massachusetts
6) 48154 – Livonia, Michigan
7) 17543 – Lititz, Pennsylvania
8) 06473 – North Haven, Connecticut
9) 53151 – New Berlin, Wisconsin
10) 60187 – Wheaton, Illinois
