The housing market has exploded in the past year. One example is Phoenix, one of America’s 20 largest cities, where prices grew the fastest among those cities in March at 20% year over the previous year. It is not alone. Double-digit price increases are common in many cities. Medium-sized city home sales totals and price rises have seen particularly substantial. Some of these cities have posted increases in demand and price levels because people have left the big cities on the nation’s east and west coasts, often due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the move to working from home.
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Two other factors have driven the increase in prices and demand. One is mortgage rates that are near 50-year lows. The other is that most middle-class and upper-class incomes were not affected by the pandemic.

Even large price increases have not been enough to dampen demand. In much of the country, home inventories are extremely low, which has led to some home sales above the asking price and some sales with multiple bidders.

Realtor.com looked at home sales in the 50 largest markets to determine the median number of days a house stayed on the market in April after it was listed. Nationally, the figure was 43 days, an all-time low for any month since it started reporting. The pace was even faster in the nation’s 50 largest markets. Realtor.com experts reported:

Homes sold even faster in the 50 largest U.S. metros at 34 days on average, down from 50 in April 2020. In Denver, homes sold in an average of 15 days, while the median time on market in Columbus, Ohio, was just 16 days and 18 days in Austin, Texas. Five of the top 50 largest markets are seeing homes sell in less than three weeks on average. Of the nation’s largest markets, only New York saw time on market increase, up 13 days.

These are the markets where houses were on the market for the fewest days, based on the median figure:

• Atlanta, Georgia, 31 days
• Austin, Texas, 18 days
• Baltimore, Maryland, 29 days
• Birmingham, Alabama, 41 days
• Boston, Massachusetts, 22 days
• Buffalo, New York, 31 days
• Charlotte, North Carolina, 32 days
• Chicago, Illinois, 34 days
• Cincinnati, Ohio, 38 days
• Cleveland, Ohio, 43 days
• Columbus, Ohio, 16 days
• Dallas, Texas, 28 days
• Denver, Colorado, 15 days
• Detroit, Michigan, 28 days
• Hartford, Connecticut, 32 days
• Houston, Texas, 40 days
• Indianapolis, Indiana, 39 days
• Jacksonville, Florida, 35 days
• Kansas City, Kansas, 40 days
• Las Vegas, Nevada, 29 days
• Los Angeles, California, 49 days
• Louisville, Kentucky, 30 days
• Memphis, Tennessee, 40 days
• Miami, Florida, 72 days
• Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 36 days
• Minneapolis, Minnesota, 30 days
• Nashville, Tennessee, 20 days
• New Orleans, Louisiana, 51 days
• New York, New York, 67 days
• Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, 40 days
• Orlando, Florida, 43 days
• Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 39 days
• Phoenix, Arizona, 24 days
• Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 44 days
• Portland, Oregon, 28 days
• Providence, Rhode Island, 28 days
• Raleigh, North Carolina, 26 days
• Richmond, Virginia, 38 days
• Riverside, California, 28 days
• Rochester, New York, 19 days
• Sacramento, California, 21 days
• San Antonio, Texas, 37 days
• San Diego, California, 48 days
• San Francisco, California, 27 days
• San Jose, California, 22 days
• Seattle, Washington, 22 days
• St. Louis, Missouri, 61 days
• Tampa, Florida, 32 days
• Virginia Beach, Virginia, 25 days
• Washington, D.C., 29 days

Click here to see the least expensive zip code in each state.

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