Historic New Hampshire city retakes crown as America’s hottest housing market as

A historic New Hampshire city has reclaimed its crown as America’s hottest housing market after recently being bumped off the top spot.

Manchester, just 55 miles from Boston, is drawing buyers with its charm, green spaces, and low cost of living — thanks to the state’s lack of sales and income taxes. 

Its thriving economy and abundance of top-rated schools make it especially popular among families. 

All this makes the historic city the most in-demand housing market in the country, according to the latest data from Realtor.com.

‘Manchester’s hotness means that high demand is met with low inventory as buyers claim available homes,’ Realtor.com economist Hannah Jones explained.

The median list price in Manchester shot up 4 percent in January compared to the month before, sitting at $579,000.

Despite high prices, demand is still white hot – with nearly four times as many viewings for listings compared to the national average, Realtor.com revealed.

Properties in the city spend just 46 days on the market before being snapped up, compared with the national average of 73 days.

‘High demand and scarce inventory conditions drive views per property higher, upping the competition for homes in the hottest markets, and leading to snappier home sales,’ according to Jones. 

In January the median list price in Manchester rose nearly 2.5 percent year-over-year, despite a national average drop of 2.2 percent.  

Connecticut in Hartford came in as the second hottest housing market in January, followed by Kenosha in Wisconsin. 

The Northeast and Midwest have been the only two regions on the Hottest Housing Markets list for sixteen months in a row. 

‘The Midwest and Northeast have reigned supreme as homes to most of the country’s hottest markets since mid-2022, when mortgage rates picked up steam,’ Jones explained. 

With the wider housing market remaining frozen the number of newly built homes on the market is now at the highest level it has been since 2009. 

Home builders are struggling to find buyers in the frozen housing market, as elevated interest rates disincentive existing owners moving and keep mortgages out of reach for many first time buyers. 

Coupled with house prices remaining at their most unaffordable level in recent history, the result is an unusually high inventory of new-build homes available.

Home builders are offering discounts and perks as they try to offload them, Marketwatch reported. 

A typical home buyer cannot afford to pay current prices and current interest rates on a mortgage, the publication reported.

The average 30-year mortgage rate is at 7.11 percent, as of January 24 and the median price of a new single-family home sold was $427,000 in December.

The ‘Oracle of Wall Street’ Meredith Whitney previously told DailyMail.com that rates need to drop below 6 percent to kickstart the housing market.