Zillow predicts hottest housing markets for 2024 – and they're all in the East, Midwest

Zillow has released its annual predictions for the hottest housing markets of the year – and they all reside east of the Mississippi.

In its analysis, the real estate company looked at factors including expected home value growth and projected change in owner-occupied households, the labor market and home construction.

Zillow found that the Midwest, Great Lakes and East Coast were home to all of 2024’s hottest housing markets.

Buffalo, New York will be a hot housing market in 2024

Zillow revealed it expects Buffalo, New York to be the nation’s hottest housing market in 2024.

According to the company, recent increases in the number of jobs created compared to the number of new home construction projects being approved vaulted Buffalo to the top of the list.

Buffalo also showed expectations for steady home values. 

Despite this ranking, Buffalo’s typical home value is still expected to decline in 2024 by 0.2%.

Midwest, East Coast home to hot housing markets

Cincinnati and Columbus, Ohio, Indianapolis, Indiana and Providence, Rhode Island rounded out the top five.

Cincinnati took the runner-up spot due to its high market velocity – the amount of time a house was spent on the market. For most months of 2023, homes that went pending in Cincinnati did so in a median of just five or six days.

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FILE: A for sale sign. (Credit: David Paul Morris/Getty Images)

The markets that garnered the fewest listing days in 2023 or where homes generally sold the fastest were Hartford, Connecticut, Cincinnati and Columbus.

Atlanta, Georgia, Charlotte, North Carolina, Tampa and Orlando, Florida rounded out the top 10 list. 

Coolest markets of 2024

Of the markets studied, the coolest metro areas of 2024 are expected to include New Orleans, Louisiana, San Antonio, Texas, Denver, Colorado, Houston, Texas and Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Expected annual home value declines characterized each of these. 

In New Orleans, Zillow expects the typical home value to fall by 6% in 2024, and by a projected decline in the number of owner-occupied households.

RELATED: 2024 may finally be good year to buy a home, experts say: ‘The worst in home sales is over’

According to data, mortgage rates continue to drop to more manageable levels for homebuyers, declining for 10 consecutive weeks and potentially dropping further this year.

This story was reported from Los Angeles.