America’s hottest real estate market might be known more for sharing a name with a popular children’s clothing line—but it’s the city’s budget-friendly home prices and peaceful surroundings that are whipping buyers into a frenzy.
Oshkosh, WI, has just ranked as the most desirable market in the U.S. for the first time in the data’s history, according to the Realtor.com® Hottest Housing Markets rankings for July.
The area—which is home to the clothing line OshKosh B’Gosh, a major employer—has homes with a median list price of $374,000, which is $65,950 less than the national median.
These budget-friendly prices combined with the tranquil surroundings helped elevate this Wisconsin city to the top of July’s rankings, according to Hannah Jones, senior economic research analyst at Realtor.com.
“Situated on Lake Winnebago, Oshkosh offers buyers affordability in an idyllic setting,” she says.
Realtor.com listings in Oshkosh received 3.7 times more views per property in July than the national average. With all those eyeballs, properties sit a mere 18 days on the market before getting snapped up by eager buyers—a whopping 32 fewer days than usual nationwide.
Real estate agents around Oshkosh agree that homes for sale here don’t sit around long.
“We are still getting multiple offers in Oshkosh and even seeing some bidding wars,” says local real estate agent Kate Schlagel-Grier, of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices.
Real estate agent Chris Siamhof, also with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices, agrees there’s stiff competition in Oshkosh, and her clients have had to get creative to get their offers noticed.
“Clients are waiving home inspections, offering appraisal gap coverage, letting owners rent back, or even paying the owner’s property taxes for a year—anything they can do to make their offers stand out,” Siamhof says. “And we are still seeing some houses going for up to $30,000 over asking.”
Many of these home shoppers hail from bigger cities nearby like Milwaukee and are seeking cheaper places to settle down, says Schlagel-Grier.
“Oshkosh is a very nice town with a much lower cost of living than Milwaukee or the Upper Valley,” she says. “This draws many people to the area.”
The rise of mighty Midwest real estate markets
Oshkosh may be leading the pack, but it’s just one of many Midwest markets that have been heating up.
“Oshkosh has ascended the hottest markets ranks over the last couple of years along with many other Midwest metros,” says Jones.
As mortgage rates started to climb in 2022—and home prices remained stubbornly high across much of the country—buyer attention zeroed in on the Midwest, according to Jones.
“As a result, many Midwest markets, such as Oshkosh, have seen inventory levels fail to keep up with rising popularity,” she explains.
Though listing levels improved 24.2% year over year in Oshkosh in July, there were 72.8% fewer homes for sale this July compared with before the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The gap between inventory and buyer demand sent Oshkosh to the top of this month’s list,” Jones says.
Why Midwest and Northeast markets are hot
The Northeast and the Midwest are the only two regions in the U.S. that clinched spots on July’s 20 Hottest Markets list, with 10 metros each. This is the 10th month in a row that these two regions monopolized the top 20.
Following Oshkosh was Hartford, CT, at No. 2. Its listings received 4.3 times more views than the national average in July, and the average home here costs $444,000. It appeals to many because of its proximity to New York City, which is about 90 minutes away.
Manchester, NH, ranked No. 3. The state’s largest city has a median house price of $585,000. It’s just an hour outside Boston and has no state income tax. In July, the houses here spent a median of just 20 days on the market.
Rounding out the top five on the list were Rockford, IL, with a median house price of $216,000, and Akron, OH, with a median house price of $257,000.
States with the most hottest markets
Three states had three towns each in the 20 hottest markets: Wisconsin, Illinois, and Ohio.
In addition to Oshkosh, the other two places in Wisconsin that made the top 20 are Janesville (No. 9) and Green Bay (No. 18). With the lowest median price of $335,000 in the Janesville area, Wisconsin is affordable, family-friendly, and a top spot for outdoor recreation.
The trio of Ohio towns that made the top 20 are Akron (No. 5), Canton (No. 11), and Cleveland (No. 20). All three had median housing prices in the $200,000s, and Ohio is known for its low cost of living.
The towns in Illinois that made the top 20 are Rockford (No. 4), Springfield (No. 12), and Peoria (No. 16). Peoria is also the city with the lowest median housing price in the top 20, at $179,000. This metro is midway between Chicago and St. Louis, which are each three hours away.
Why home prices in hot markets are rising
Lately, housing prices have mainly been flat in this sluggish market due to stubbornly high interest rates, but hot markets have still seen prices soar.
In July, home prices in the majority of the U.S. remained stable compared with last year, at a median of $439,950 nationwide. However, home prices of America’s 20 Hottest Markets were still climbing, spiking 11% year over year.
Homes in July’s hottest markets also received 2.8 times more views per property than the national average. This is largely due to these areas’ high demand and low housing stock, which “drives views per property higher, upping the competition for homes in the hottest markets and leading to snappier home sales,” Jones notes in her analysis.
Houses in America’s 20 hottest markets spent just 26 days on the market on average, which was roughly half the national average of 50 days.
Urban markets are getting hotter
Larger urban housing markets also heated up this month as more homebuyers searched for houses near business hubs as they abandoned Zoom and headed back to the office.
The five large markets that saw the biggest jump in rankings were Las Vegas, Philadelphia, Kansas City, MO, Minneapolis, and Chicago.
Las Vegas saw the biggest jump in its hotness ranking among large U.S. metros, up 73 spots over last year.
Shockingly, prices fell an average of 1.1% in these large urban markets, which was the first-ever large-market average annual decline in the data’s history.
“This suggests that large markets are starting to adjust to subdued buyer demand by lowering home prices and selling lower-priced homes,” Jones explains.