Worcester Tops 'Hot Real Estate Market' List

WORCESTER, MA—There's a shift in the country's "hot markets" as of late, with those markets scattered throughout rather than along the west coast. That's what the latest realtor.com's hotness index shows, with its June numbers rating the top 20 in the country, with Worcester as one of two Massachusetts markets on that list. Boston-Cambridge-Newton ranked at number 3, and Worcester hit at a respectable number 18.

On average, markets in the top 20 hottest markets that have prices lower than realtor.com's national median list price of $299,000 jumped 12 ranking spots year-over-year.

California ended a historic streak at the top of the hotness list, giving way to Midland, TX, which took first place for the second month in a. row. Columbus, OH, was number two followed by the Boston markets, both of which were on the list of headquarters contenders for Amazon.

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In the hottest markets, homes continue to sell quickly, said realtor. Age of inventory in the top 20 markets averaged only 34 days, faster than last June (36 days) with the typical age of inventory registering 40 days or less in each of the top 20 markets, said the release.

"Amid the most competitive home-buying season in history, buyers are increasingly gravitating toward less-expensive locales," said realtor.com. Eight of the 20 hottest markets featured list prices fell below June's median list price of $299,000.

"As the record pace of sales continues to challenge would-be homebuyers, the hottest market rankings show that buyers are looking for markets that offer relative affordability," said Danielle Hale, chief economist at realtor.com, in a statement.

Read the full report here.

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