The nations hottest ZIP codes for housing are in the Northeast and Midwest, explains Realtor.com economist Hannah Jones.
America’s hottest housing markets are all located in the Northeast and Midwest, according to a new ZIP code-level analysis of the most in-demand housing markets.
Realtor.com released its hottest ZIP codes report for 2026, which found that those two regions swept the top 10 rankings for the fourth consecutive year.
Hannah Jones, senior economist at Realtor.com, told 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 said.
A TALE OF TWO HOUSING MARKETS: LUXURY DEMAND SURGES AS AFFORDABILITY SQUEEZES STARTER-HOME BUYERS
Realtor’s hottest ZIP codes report gauged views by home shoppers and the average time homes were listed to compile the rankings. (Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Housing supply in the communities that comprised the top 10 of this year’s rankings is especially tight, as Jones noted that inventory levels are running about 60% below pre-pandemic levels in those communities – whereas inventories across the country are just 11% below where they were before the pandemic.
She also said that many home shoppers in these markets are coming from within the metro area they’re closest to, as opposed to being from outside the region to move, adding that “we’re not seeing as much of that cross-country migration type of buyer demand.”
Another characteristic of those markets is that the scarcity is driving buyers to pay above asking price, with nine of the top 10 seeing homes sell at or above asking price with an average sale-to-list ratio of 103.8%. Around the country, the typical home sold for about 2.3% below its list price in the first half of 2026.
THESE AMERICAN CITIES ARE TRENDING TOWARD A BUYER’S MARKET
The hottest ZIP code in Realtor’s report is located near the Boston metro area. (Getty Images/stock)
Buyers are also putting more money down when purchasing a home in the ZIP codes that make up the top 10 rankings as opposed to 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 said.
“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 said.
Jones added that the buyers who are participating 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.”
HERE’S THE INCOME NEEDED TO AFFORD THE TYPICAL AMERICAN HOME
Most of the communities in the top 10 ZIP codes in Realtor’s hottest housing markets report are in the suburbs of major metro areas. (iStock/Getty Images Plus)
Realtor.com’s rankings are based on an algorithm that considers market demand based on unique viewers per property on the Realtor.com website, as well as the pace of the market as measured by the number of days a listing remains actively listed on the platform.
Here’s Realtor.com’s list 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
