Jackson, Mississippi, skyline over the Capitol Building. The Jackson housing market has seen a huge … [+]
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With the Fed aggressively trying to manage record-high year-on-year inflation rates with a series of interest rate hikes, rising mortgage rates are impacting home affordability for many American homebuyers. Housing market activity arguably got way overheated amid the pandemic, especially in 2021, and should experience a natural slowdown. Many housing markets are showing signs of a cooling off in activity. However, in other cities, houses are still getting sold at a furious pace despite the highest mortgage rates Americans have experienced in a while, after getting used to post-Great Recession interest rates that were near zero.
Using monthly housing data from Redfin RDFN , we analyzed the 200 largest cities in the U.S. by population and utilized the change in the days on market — meaning, the median number of days between the date the home was listed for sale and when the home went off-market/pending sale covering all homes — over the last year to evaluate which U.S. housing markets have been seeing homes just getting swept off the market like a tornado came through.
Read on to find out which housing markets have seen their homes get bought and taken off the market the fastest from 2021 to 2022.
10 Cities Where Homes Are Flying Off the Market the Fastest
The 10 cities that have seen the biggest drops in the number of days a home spends on the market before being up from May 2021 to May 2022 all display strong geographic patterns. Seven out of the 10 cities are located in states of the U.S. South region, as designated by the Census Bureau, including the No. 1 city on the list. Another, less noticeable geographic pattern is the presence of two ‘old industrial’ cities of the Northeast, Rochester, New York, and Providence, Rhode Island. Here’s a breakdown of the housing markets of the 10 cities:
1. Jackson, Mississippi
The capital of Mississippi, Jackson is watching houses fly off the shelf in its housing market. Indeed, according to WLBT news, the Jackson housing market is more competitive than ever before. In May 2019, the median days on market for a home in Jackson was 121 days; in May 2020, it was still a long time, with a median of 105 days on market. The change from May 2020 to May 2021 was already impressive: A decline of 26.7%, from 105 median days on market in May 2020 to a median of 77 days on market in May 2021. But from last May, the pace of homes going off the market picked up dramatically. In May 2022, the median days on market for a home in Jackson was a mere seven days, down 90.9% from May 2021’s median of 77 days. Not surprisingly, the number of home sales has climbed as well, from 81 home sales in May 2021 to 132 home sales in May 2022, an increase of 63% in a single year.
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2. Rochester, New York
This classic upstate New York city has witnessed some very interesting activity in its housing market. Realtors in the Rochester housing market have remarked that in the past 12 months they’ve witnessed the most annual sales in their some of their careers, according to WROC news. The number of days on market for a home to spend in Rochester has shortened substantially over the last year. In May 2021, the median days on market for a Rochester home was 71 days; one year later, that median is down to only seven days, as of May 2022. That’s a 90.1% drop, and it far surpasses the decline in the number of days on market from May 2020 (92 days) to May 2021 (71 days). The only recent one-year period that comes close to a 90.1% year-over-year decline is when the median days on market dropped from 346 days in May 2019, down to 92 days in May 2020, a decline of 73.4%. Home prices are up in Rochester, with the median sale price in May 2021 of $245,000 rising by 20.4%, reaching $294,950 in May 2022. More remarkably, the sales-to-list ratio — the average ratio of each home’s sale price divided by their list price covering all homes in the area — measures whether homes are selling for more or less than their list price; and in Rochester, the sales-to-list ratio went from 101.7% in May 2021 to 108.8% in May 2022. This means that the average home in Rochester is selling for 8.8% over its list price.
3. Wichita, Kansas
The Wichita housing market is still quite lively despite slowdowns occurring in many places across the nation. Wichita is seeing record-setting lows in its supply of available homes for sale, according to KAKE news. Housing inventory in Wichita has fallen dramatically over the last year, from 1,185 available homes in May 2021, down to 272 available homes in May 2022 — a year-over-year decrease of 77%. With inventory down, the number of days homes spend on the market is declining fast as well. The median days on market for a Wichita home was 40 days in May 2021; it then plummeted by 90%, to a median of just four days on market in May 2022.
4. Mobile, Alabama
Mobile’s housing market is displaying some strong activity, with home prices rising by 21.5% from May 2021 ($193,400 median sale price) to May 2022 ($235,000 median sale price). But the number of days on market for a home in Mobile is truly stunning. In May 2019, the median days on market in Mobile for a home was 59 days, before increasing to 69 days in May 2020, then down to 46 days in May 2021. But the decrease from May 2021 to May 2022 is in a league of its own — an 87% year-over-year decline, from a median of 46 days last May to only six days in May 2022.
5. Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Another state capital to make our list, the Baton Rouge housing market has remained strong in the face of rising mortgage rates, according to The Advocate. The Baton Rouge housing market experienced a serious shortening of the time a home for sale spends on the market. From May 2020, when the median days on market for a Baton Rouge home was 54 days, it dropped by 66.7% to a median of 18 days in May 2021. From there, over the next year, the median days on market fell by another 55.6%, down to only eight days on market in May 2022.
6. Providence, Rhode Island
The capital of Rhode Island has a fairly healthy housing market. Home prices are up 17.8%, from a median sale price of $320,000 in May 2021 to $377,000 in May 2022. And the number of days on market for a Providence home has taken a cut over the last year. For the past three years, the median days on market for a Providence home had been decreasing each year: From 45 days in May 2019, to 39 days in May 2020, to 26 days in May 2021, and then a decline of 53.8%, reaching just 12 days in May 2022. What’s more, homes in the Providence housing market are increasingly being sold for above their list price. In May 2020, the Providence sales-to-list ratio was 99.7%, before rising to 102.6% in May 2021, and then climbing again, to 103.7% in May 2022.
7. McAllen, Texas
McAllen is one of many cities that have given a lot of life to the Texas housing market overall. Homes are selling fast in McAllen, with the median days on market going from 77 days in May 2020, down 50.6% to a median of 38 days in May 2021, only to then fall again, this time by 50%, to reach a median of just 19 days on market in May 2022. At the same time, inventory in McAllen is down, falling by 22.1% year-over-year, from 289 available homes in May 2021 to 225 homes in May 2022. Meanwhile home prices have risen in a healthy manner, not exorbitantly: From a median sale price of $195,000 in May 2021, prices rose by 17.7%, reaching a median sale price of $229,500 in May 2022.
8. Metairie, Louisiana
Right by the city of New Orleans, Metairie is experiencing a tight inventory and quickening pace in home sales. Available housing inventory in Metairie decreased by 15.7%, from 254 homes for sale in May 2021 to 214 homes in May 2022. But it’s the fall in the number of days on the market a home spends that really stands out in Metairie. From a median days on market of 16 days (already a fairly short amount of time) in May 2021, the number dropped by half, to a current median days on market of only eight days in May 2022. Fortunately for homebuyers in Metairie, the growth in home prices over the last year has been quite manageable compared to many other American housing markets. The median sale price in Metairie rose by 7.4%, from $285,000 in May 2021 to $306,100 in May 2022.
9. New Orleans, Louisiana
The second Louisiana city to make our list, and right next to No. 8 Metairie, New Orleans has a housing market that’s behaving rather healthily. Home prices increased by only 7.2%, from a median sale price of $342,500 in May 2021 to $367,000 in May 2022. Inventory declined from last year, but not by a catastrophic amount that would cause a supply problem. Still, it is startling how much the pace of homebuying has picked up in New Orleans over the last year. In May 2019, the median days on market for a New Orleans home was 45 days, and it was 41 days in May 2020. Then the number of days on market began to drop noticeably, by 36.6%, from 41 days in May 2020 to 26 days in May 2021. However, that decrease isn’t as much as the decrease in days on market from May 2021 to May 2022: A decline of 50%, from a median days on market of 26 days in May 2021 to 13 days in May 2022.
10. Nashville, Tennessee
Finally, the last city on the list, Nashville, has experienced a lot of activity in its housing market during the pandemic, and is the only city from the whole Tennessee housing market to make this list. From the pre-pandemic days through May 2022, home prices in Nashville continued to rise year after year. In May 2019, the median sale price was $304,950, before increasing by 7.9% to $329,000 in May 2020, followed by a 17% increase to $384,900 in May 2021. The rate of growth of home prices in Nashville accelerated over the last year, rising by 22.1%, from $384,900 in May 2021 to $470,000. Buying activity is also reflected in the steady rise in the sales-to-list ratio in Nashville in recent years. In May 2020, the average home in Nashville was selling for 1.2% below its eventual sale price (98.8% sales-to-list ratio). But two years later, in May 2022, the average home in Nashville is selling for 4.2% over its list price (104.2% sales-to-list ratio). Meanwhile, the number of days a home spends on the market before being taken off, has shortened dramatically for homebuyers. From a median days on market of 46 days in May 2020, it dropped by 37%, down to a median of 29 days on market in May 2021. But from there, it really dropped: By 44.8%, from a median days on market of 29 days in May 2021, down to 16 days on market in May 2022.
The Bottom Line on the Pace of Home Sales
The national median number of days on market for a home is 16 days, as of May 2022. Only one city on this list has a median number of days on market that is longer than 16 days (19 days in McAllen in May 2022). The other nine cities on our list all have shorter periods of time a home spends on the market than the national median. More revealing, from May 2021 to May 2022, the median number of days on market nationally did not change at all — a 0% change, from a median days on market of 16 in May 2021 to 16 in May 2022. By contrast, the No. 10 city on our list, Nashville, experienced a 44.8% decline in days on market, and the No. 1 city, Jackson, experienced a 90.9% drop in days on market. So, these 10 cities are certainly exceptional when compared to the U.S. housing market overall.