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America’s 20 Hottest Markets for Real Estate in August 2016

Much like that last glorious weekend at the beach before the humdrum schedule of school and work kicks in, August typically sees one last burst of home-buying activity before the busy summer real estate season comes to a close.

So it’s no surprise that with September around the corner, a preliminary analysis of our data here at realtor.com® shows that we’re having the hottest August in a decade—in real estate terms, that is. (It was pretty darn hot weather, too.) Homes for sale are moving off the market 2% more quickly than this time last year, and prices are hitting new record highs.

And continuing a winning streak that’s as amazing to us as those of Michael Phelps, Simone Biles, and Usain Bolt put together, Vallejo, CA, remains atop the hot list for the fourth month in a row. It’s followed by the bull markets in Dallas, Denver, and good old San Francisco.

The median home on realtor.com was listed for $250,000—8% higher than one year ago and virtually the same as last month—a record high for August. And it wasn’t the only new record.

“Realtor.com’s traffic growth has been particularly strong in August, even surpassing record highs set in July, making this an extended summer with unprecedented interest in buying,” our chief economist, Jonathan Smoke, said in a statement.

“With the school year starting now in most of the country, we’re seeing some drop-off in immediate buying interest,” he added. “The current conditions provide more opportunity for any frustrated buyers still in the market to face less competition as we close out the summer.”

Smoke and his team looked at the median number of days homes spent on the market to gauge the supply of homes for sale, and the number of listing views per market to arrive at a list of the 20 hottest real estate markets in the country—where homes are selling fast and there’s plenty of interest from buyers.

Not all the names on our hot list are familiar ones. New to this month’s list are Kennewick, WA, and Waco, TX. We’ve actually noted the surprising appeal of Waco before; Kennewick looks to be a charming inland town sitting on the bend of a river, equidistant from Portland and Seattle.

And Detroit was the biggest gainer, moving up four spots to crack the top 10. Check out the rest:

The hot list

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Source: Real Estate News and Advice – realtor.com » Real Estate News