A recent study authored by U.S. News Senior Real Estate Economist and MetroIntelligence Principal Patrick S. Duffy has ranked the Denver, Colorado Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) as the hottest housing market in the United States for the second year in a row.
In addition, several markets in North Carolina and one in Virginia round out the top five list. Ranking from sixth to tenth place were markets in the states of Tennessee, Texas and Oregon.
The ranking was compiled using the Housing Market Index for December 2023, an interactive data set which aggregates a large variety of public and private data points categorized by their impacts on housing demand, supply and financing. Index values range on a scale of 1-100 with 100 being the hottest.
The report also includes several other rankings, including “Markets to Watch,” “Most Resilient Markets” as well as how top-ranking MSAs performed in terms of specific demand, supply and financing variables. The Markets to Watch list is led by Cleveland-Elyria, Ohio, which reported the largest positive rise in its Housing Market Index number between June and December of 2023. Coming in first on the Most Resilient Markets list again is Greeley, Colorado, with its overall index surging 13.2 points year-over-year through December 2023.
The Demand HMI, which looks at data on employment, unemployment, household growth, consumer sentiment, median home sales prices and rental prices, was once again led by two markets in North Carolina as well as Denver.
The Supply HMI, which compiles data on housing supply, rental vacancy rates, construction costs, construction jobs, builder sentiment and architectural billings, was led by San Antonio tied with Miami followed by New York City.
The Financial HMI, which analyses government data on housing supply, rental vacancy rates, construction costs, construction jobs, builder sentiment from the National Association of Home Builders and architectural billings from the American Institute of Architects, was again led by Minneapolis, Omaha and Richmond, Virginia.
