Bargain Markets

With the state of real estate constantly in flux, Realtor.com makes a concerted effort to rank the nation’s markets each month. These ranking systems cover everything from least to most affordable. They do this because the overall national median list price for homes is becoming increasingly unattainable and listicles like these give the general public an idea of where to stretch their dollar. 

In this particular feature, Realtor shares the top 20 most affordable markets in the country. Seeing as that median list price is hovering at or above $400,000, these markets reflect an average dip of 20%. This month’s Hottest Market List has an average list price of $313,000… and one town is a close neighbor to Lake Norman. 

Ranking Factors 

To determine these lists, Realtor.com looks at a number of factors. Most notably, demand. This is achieved by looking at the number of unique clicks on online property listings and how quickly homes are selling in those areas. 

Manchester, New Hampshire nabbed the No. 1 spot for the 16th time in the past 22 months followed very closely by Rochester, New York. But these deep savings keep creeping further and further south and to the west. In fact, in some midwestern cities on the list, you can find median home prices more than $150,000 LOWER than the national average. 

So which North Carolina town made the list?

That would be our neighbor to the west: Hickory. Just a 40-minute jaunt up the road, Hickory finds itself No. 18 on Realtor.com’s December list of the nation’s hottest markets. Homes have an average list price of $329,900 and spend less than 60 days on the market.