The most popular market among Zillow home shoppers this year was West Chester, Pa. After the West Coast ruled in 2021 and the Midwest took the top spot last year, the Northeast dominated this year’s list.
Zillow surfers generally gravitated toward smaller cities in 2023. Of the 10 most popular markets, only one — Manchester, N.H., — has a population of more than 100,000, and most have less than half that number.
The top 10 most popular markets of 2023 on Zillow were:
- West Chester, Pa.
- Nashua, N.H.
- Manchester, N.H.
- Wethersfield, Conn.
- West Hartford, Conn.
- Stow, Ohio
- Middletown, Conn.
- Twinsburg, Ohio
- Newington, Conn.
- Concord, N.H.
Chula Vista, Calif., won out for most popular large city. South Portland, Maine, was the most popular seaside town, while Vermilion, Ohio, took the top spot among vacation towns. North Carolina’s Pinehurst edged out Hilton Head Island, S.C., for the top retirement town. West Chester also ranked first among college towns, with Kent, Ohio, coming in just behind it.
“Affordability was the word on home shoppers’ minds this year, and it shows in the most popular cities that buyers on Zillow gravitated toward,” Zillow Chief Economist Skylar Olsen said in a release. “Heading into next year, the winds appear to be shifting just a bit. Buying a home will still be expensive in much of the country, but more listings and much flatter home price growth will make life easier for home shoppers.”
To rank the most popular markets, Zillow analyzed housing metrics that indicate consumer demand — including page-view traffic, home value growth and days on market — for nearly 2,300 U.S. cities.