POWER REAL ESTATE
ANALYSIS:
Looking into the first quarter of America’s hottest housing markets
January is characterized as a slow season, but despite that, many of the America’s real estate markets are already heating up and surprisingly in the most unusual cities and metro areas. According to Realtor.com analysis, Manchester, NH ranked as the nation’s hottest market in January despite it being a really cold place. We know that in January people usually tend to go for warmer places, but Manchester? That seemed odd. The area property listings received 3.4 times more visitors than the national average with homes staying on the market for an average of 33 days (the national average being 61 days). Because of this crazy demand, the median listing price has risen 11.1% over the past year to $450,000 which is way above the national median of $375,000. Deciding on the best places to settle for you and your family can be tricky as there are so many deciding factors beyond the return on 14 | MARCH 2022
investment. Job opportunities, amenities, crime rates are some of the key factors one needs to investigate before moving to a new place. In overall, according to Realtor.com analysis the nation’s hottest market is just a highlight of more affordable areas in the outskirts of bigger cities. According to George Ratiu, the manager of economic research for Realtor.com, “Manchester, NH, sits squarely at the very intersection of current trends,” adding that “it’s a short distance from the Boston metropolitan area.” In Boston Metro, the median home prices skyrocketed to $275,000 in January which is one of the factors driving people to look for homes farther inwards that are more affordable. Manchester is located two hours away which to many is perfect compromise.
“Remote work has moved from a pandemic necessity to a preferred reality for millions of workers across the country,” says Ratiu. “In practice, these changes are spotlighting communities located within a two-hour drive from a major urban employment center, a broadening of the traditional commute radius.” Apart from convenience residents of Manchester save on taxes too.
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f anything, we can all agree that last year’s real estate activity was kind of an anomaly, and understandably so. We had the pandemic that disrupted everything and while after sometime we expected that this anomaly would correct itself, this might not be happening any time soon.
