A city known for its lake effect blizzards and that has lost half of its population was named the hottest housing market in America, according to Zillow. Buffalo topped 50 markets based on home price appreciation, market job growth and the speed at which homes are sold.

The Hottest Housing Market

“Housing markets are healthiest where affordable home prices and strong employment are giving young hopefuls a real shot at buying and starting to build equity,” Anushna Prakash, data scientist for Zillow Economic Research, commented. Notably, Buffalo topped the list based on “new jobs per new home permitted.” Zillow says this is a metric of future home demand. (These are America’s fastest-growing counties.)

Buffalo also did well on an important measure of current home demand. This is days on the market, which tells how many days a home is available from when it is listed until it is sold. Only three cities on the list did better than Buffalo’s 14. Cincinnati and Columbus, Ohio, which ranked second and third on the overall list, had 11 days, while Cleveland came in at 12.

These cities also had average home prices well below the national number of $347,314. Buffalo’s figure was $248,445, while Cincinnati’s was $270,826, Columbus’s was $301,138 and Cleveland’s was $215,597.

In each of the top 10 cities on the list, renting a home was less expensive than owning one, based on a monthly mortgage payment with a 5% down payment. The calculation is odd since most mortgages have a larger down payment.

Market	Home Value	Mortgage Payment
Buffalo, N.Y.	$248,445	$1,792
Cincinnati, Ohio	$270,826	$1,959
Columbus, Ohio	$301,138	$2,177
Indianapolis, Ind.	$268,125	$1,944
Providence, R.I.	$455,609	$3,288
Atlanta, Ga.	$373,212	$2,701
Charlotte, N.C.	$371,844	$2,688
Cleveland, Ohio	$215,597	$1,556
Orlando, Fla.	$388,048	$2,806
Tampa, Fla.	$375,338	$2,717

More About Buffalo

Buffalo has been a troubled city for decades. Its population was 589,132 in 1950. As of 2022, that number was 276,486. Like other industrial cities, including Detroit, Cleveland and Toledo, it lost jobs as manufacturing facilities moved elsewhere.

Buffalo is also a poor city. According to the Census Bureau, the median household income is $46,184, well below the national figure of nearly $74,580. Buffalo’s poverty rate is 27.2%, more than double the national numbers.

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