Homes in these 10 zip codes are still selling above asking—even as the rest of the market cools

The suburbs are back, baby.

City dwellers in the Northeast and Midwest who have been priced out or are simply looking for more room to stretch their legs are driving intense competition in nearby suburban communities. That helps to explain how Peabody, Massachusetts, a North Shore suburb of Boston, once again claimed the top spot on Realtor.com’s annual ranking of the hottest zip codes for housing.

Highly motivated buyers are paying up for homes that fit a couple sweet spots: They’re located in zip codes that are roughly 10 to 20 miles outside of a major urban district and the homes have more square footage than the nationwide median. While seven markets on this year’s list are in metro areas that have appeared on prior rankings, there’s a “clear shift” in what buyers want now, according to Hannah Jones, a senior economist at the Austin-based real estate site.

“Buyers aren’t simply chasing the lowest price tag anymore—they’re chasing space, character, and a manageable commute to a major job center, and they’re willing to pay a premium to get it,” Jones said in a statement.

That premium is real: About 90% of homes in the hottest zip codes sold at or above the asking price, whereas the typical home sold in the first half of 2026 for about 2.3% below its listing price, according to the report. And to get their foot in the door of well-located and established neighborhoods, buyers will take the tradeoff of homes that skew older—the median year homes across the 10 zip codes were built was 1970, about a decade older than the nationwide average. 

THIS YEAR’S HOTTEST HOUSING MARKETS

Thanks to highly motivated buyers who are financially prepared, sellers have the upper hand in the hottest housing markets. While there are still more seller’s markets in the U.S., Realtor.com recently noted that many of those markets are now trending in a buyer-friendly direction.

What sets apart the hottest housing markets is a mix of strong demand, as measured by unique views per property on Realtor.com, along with a relatively low number of days that a listing remains active on the site. 

Those factors help explain how Peabody, Massachusetts once again topped the ranking.

There, homes spent a median of only 20 days on the market in the first half of the year—compared with 52 days nationwide—and most homes sold at or above the asking price. What’s more, Peabody home listings saw about four times more views than the national average, largely driven by people in the greater Boston metro area.

And homes in two of the other hottest zip codes are selling for even more than the listing price, which bucks the national trend. Competition has become so intense in Montclair, New Jersey and Fairport, New York that sellers may be courting multiple offers from buyers. In these zip codes, homes sold for 16.7% and 14.4% over the asking price, according to the report.

The 10 hottest zip codes this year are:

1. 01960 in Peabody, Massachusetts
2. 07042 in Montclair, New Jersey
3. 08080 in Sewell, New Jersey
4. 14450 in Fairport, New York
5. 01085 in Westfield, Massachusetts
6. 48154 in Livonia, Michigan
7. 17543 in Lititz, Pennsylvania
8. 06473 in North Haven, Connecticut
9. 53151 in New Berlin, Wisconsin
10. 60187 in Wheaton, Illinois

HOW BUYERS FACTOR IN

The latest report also reinforces a story of the post-pandemic divergence in housing markets. For the fourth straight year, Realtor.com’s expanded list of the 50 hottest housing markets didn’t include anywhere in the South or West.

Buyer competition in these markets has eased thanks to more robust homebuilding and softer price growth in recent years, the report’s author notes, whereas markets in the Northeast and Midwest have seen comparatively tight new-construction pipelines that constrained supply.

But it’s not just dynamics in the housing markets that sets the hottest housing markets apart. The buyers themselves are different—they come to closing with large down payments and higher credit scores than the national averages.  

“What’s especially notable is how financially prepared these buyers are,” Jones said. “Even in zip codes where typical local incomes aren’t enough to cover today’s home prices, buyers are showing up with larger down payments and stronger credit profiles than the national norm, which tells us this demand is real and well-capitalized.”