May 2025 Hottest Housing Markets

By Hannah Jones

June 12, 2025

• Springfield, MA, took the top spot this month, followed by Amherst Town-Northampton, MA, highlighting the red-hot New England market.
• Prices were roughly flat nationally, and the month’s hottest markets saw slight price growth (+0.3%) on average, reversing last month’s hot markets’ average price decline.
• The Northeast and the Midwest were once again the only regions on this month’s list with 13 and 7 markets, respectively. May’s list is the 20th in a row that contains only Northeast and Midwest markets.
• The Philadelphia metro area once again saw the biggest jump in hotness ranking among large U.S. metros compared with last year, climbing 50 spots to rank as the 59th hottest market in May.

New England metros took the top of the list once again, with Springfield, MA, claiming the country’s top spot in May. This is the fourth time Springfield has been at the helm. 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 Realtor.com Market Hotness rankings take into account two aspects of the housing market: 1) market demand, as measured by unique views per property on Realtor.com, and 2) the pace of the market as measured by the number of days a listing remains active on Realtor.com.

Though prices remained relatively stable on average in the hottest markets, some areas saw rather dramatic price growth. Monroe, MI, and Amherst Town-Northampton, MA, saw their median list price climb 17.3% and 11.4%, respectively, in May, leading the hot markets. Despite relatively low listing price growth on average, the hottest markets saw price per square foot increase an average of 2.7% year over year in May, outpacing the country’s 0.6% growth. This means that, in general, homes are appreciating at a faster rate in the country’s hottest markets, but a higher concentration of smaller homes compared with this time last year is limiting median list price growth.

More than half of this month’s hottest markets were priced lower than the national median. Binghamton, NY, with a median list price of $220,000, was the month’s lowest-priced market, while Bridgeport-Stamford, CT, was the highest-priced, with a median price of $875,000, nearly $300,000 higher than the list’s next-highest-priced market.

Continued price growth is the result of fierce buyer competition. On average, homes in the hottest markets attracted 3.1 times the listing viewership as the typical U.S. home in May, and homes sold in an average of 28 days, more than three weeks faster than the national norm.

Boasting 13 of the 20 hottest markets, the Northeast continues to lead the country in housing demand and market pace. The top six markets on May’s list were all in the Northeast, and specifically in New England, underscoring the popularity of the area. 

Many Northeast metros continue to face tight inventory conditions and high demand, due in part to limited new-construction activity. A recent analysis from Realtor.com found that the Northeast faces the most severe housing supply gap, which has worsened affordability conditions. The Northeast saw inventory recover only about 19% annually in May, the lowest of any region. Additionally, homes in the Northeast continue to sell almost two weeks faster than before the COVID-19 pandemic as a result of high demand and buyer competition.