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Homebuyers searching for a bargain have made a Pennsylvania port city one of the hottest housing markets in the country.
Erie, Pennsylvania, is situated on Lake Erie and is the home of Pennsylvania’s only Great Lakes port and the community’s affordability and quality of life have helped vault it up the rankings of Realtor.com’s hottest housing markets.
The June edition of the hottest housing markets report ranked Erie second in the country, trailing only Hartford, Connecticut, which topped the list for the second consecutive month. The report gauges demand based on unique views per property on the Realtor.com platform, along with the pace of the market based on the number of days a listing remains active online.
In June, Erie attracted 3.3 times the national average number of viewers per property, while the average listing was sold in just 29 days – the same as Hartford and six days faster than a year ago. By contrast, the median U.S. home was on the market for 53 days before being sold in June.
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“The hotness in Erie is largely fueled by significant inventory scarcity,” said Realtor.com senior economist Hannah Jones.
“While other markets have seen some progress in inventory availability, Erie continues to see falling levels of for-sale listings. As a result, the market continues to heat up relative to the rest of the country,” she said.
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Erie, which has a population of about 91,000, has a median listing price of $239,000 – a level that’s about $200,000 lower than the national median and is roughly half of Hartford’s.
That made Erie the second most affordable city in the country among the 20 hottest housing markets, behind only Binghamton, New York, which had a median home price of $227,000 last month.
“For buyers looking to be in the Great Lakes region, Erie may be top of the list with appealing quality-of-life amenities and widespread affordability.”
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Realtor’s report noted that the Northeast and Midwest continue to dominate the top 20 hottest housing market rankings, with 16 of the high-demand communities being located in the Northeast.
Nationally, median list prices declined 2.5% year over year in June, and pending home sales moved higher for the seventh straight month.
“That combination of falling prices and rising contract signings signals that sellers are meeting buyers where they are,” Jones said. “Sellers who are pricing realistically are being rewarded with engagement.”
