The 20 Hottest Market in September 2015

The season has officially changed to fall, and it looks like would-be home buyers can benefit from a wide selection of homes that are becoming more affordable, according to an early read of our exclusive September data here at realtor.com®. Even better news: This year’s markets looks substantially better than it did last year at this time.

“The residential real estate market remains strong and healthy as autumn begins, but the momentum has clearly shifted in favor of buyers,” said Jonathan Smoke, our chief economist, who led the analysis of realtor.com® data from the first three weeks of September 2015. “Would-be buyers have struggled to find a home all year, but now inventory is nearly as high as it has been all throughout 2015, and it isn’t moving as quickly. Likewise, price appreciation remains above normal levels but has declined from the higher pace of the spring and summer.”

So if you’re looking to buy a home, now is the sweet spot. Plus, with homes moving more slowly, sellers might be more amenable to negotiating on the price or other concessions.

Yes, sellers, you may need to check yourselves now that the frantic summer market is over, Smoke said.

“Sellers should have reasonable expectations for prices and be more patient during the fall. But both buyers and sellers should be encouraged by a market that continues to see healthy gains in transactions over last year.”

Listing inventory on realtor.com® peaked in September and will likely end the month down 0.5% from August. Listings are now staying longer on the market as the days become shorter. The median age of inventory is now 80 days, which is up 6.7% from August but remains down 5% year over year.

List prices, meanwhile, peaked in July. September saw the median list price decrease 1% from August to $230,000, but it remains up 6% year over year.

Smoke’s data cabal ranked the country’s 300 largest markets in terms of housing supply (measured by days on market) and demand (measured by listing views on our site) to come up with the top 20 hottest markets in the U.S. for this month.

“Sellers in these markets continue to see listings move much more quickly than the rest of the country in September, and the seasonal slowdown is not as strong in these markets,” Smoke said.

California continues to dominate the list, with 11 markets again this month; Texas and Michigan also continue to feature multiple markets. Fort Wayne entered the list for the first time. The cities typically include satellite metros—for example, the San Francisco market also includes Oakland and Hayward.