Top Real Estate Markets Last Month

February last month’s data shows that the dominant theme in the real estate market so far this year is affordability.

Realtor.com began tracking real estate in metropolitan cities in 2013. (Metro areas include nearby suburbs or satellite cities). In January, the top places that improved the most in the ranking were smaller cities with lower prices, specifically:

Santa Cruz houses courtesy of Realtor.com

Pueblo, CO houses courtesy of Livability

Photo of a house in Canton, OH courtesy of ryanhomes.com

Boise, ID house courtesy of West Real Estate Group

Related image

Photo of Spokane, WA courtesy of Livability.com

And yet, California markets are still dominant, even as they are the ones most affected by the slowdown in price growth and market activity. Santa Cruz homes spent 25 more days on market last month compared with February of last year, while Sacramento homes took an additional 13 days to move. Modesto homes sat for 11 more days, Stockton homes for nine. And in once-mighty San Francisco, homes were taking eight more days to sell.

How about San Francisco?

San Francisco is still No. 5.

San Francisco courtesy of Reserve Direct

Here’s the real estate hot list (based on last months data):

Rank	20 Hottest Markets	Rank YY	Median Days on Market
1	Midland, TX	2	41
2	Chico, CA	11	34
3	Colorado Springs, CO	6	46
4	Spokane, WA	14	49
5	San Francisco, CA	-4	29
6	Sacramento, CA	-1	50
7	Yuba City, CA	23	59
8	Rochester, NY	17	58
9	Columbus, OH	7	59
10	Stockton, CA	-2	47
11	Fort Wayne, IN	9	63
12	Modesto, CA	0	48
13	Boston, MA	6	63
14	Pueblo, CO	8	53
15	Odessa, TX	13	57
16	Dallas, TX	-2	54
17	Fresno, CA	0	50
18	Canton, OH	53	51
19	Santa Cruz, CA	-13	62
20	Boise City, ID	1	48