Midwest, Great Lakes among 2024's hottest housing markets: Zillow

The Midwest and the Great Lakes regions will have some of the hottest housing markets in the U.S. this year, according to Zillow.

The real estate marketplace predicted Buffalo, N.Y., to be the "nation’s hottest housing market in 2024," with Cincinnati; Columbus, Ohio; Indianapolis; and Providence, R.I., rounding out the top five.

“These should stand out as strong in a housing market still buffeted by low inventory and relatively high mortgage rates and prices," Zillow added in its report released last week.

Other cities included in Zillow’s top 10 projected hottest housing markets for 2024 include Atlanta; Charlotte, N.C.; Cleveland, Orlando, Fla.; and Tampa, Fla.

“Vaulting Buffalo to the top of the list are recent increases in the number of jobs created compared to the number of new homes construction projects being approved, as well as expectations for steady home values,” the report continued.

“Meanwhile, Cincinnati’s second-place rank can be chalked up to its high market velocity — for most months of 2023, homes that went pending in Cincinnati did so in a median of just five or six days.”

Zillow said its ranking is based on data including forecasted annual home value appreciation through this upcoming November and listing days per home between January and November last year. 

In mid-December, mortgage rates fell below 7 percent for the first time since August in the wake of signs from the Federal Reserve that interest rates could go down this year, according to data from Freddie Mac.

“Given inflation continues to decelerate and the Federal Reserve Board’s current expectations that they will lower the federal funds target rate next year, we likely will see a gradual thawing of the housing market in the new year,” Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist, said in a statement last month.