The hottest areas right now are ones within driving distance of a major city, according to Redfin. Homes here are more affordable and give buyers an escape from dense, urban areas. Redfin identified the hottest 10 and coolest 10 counties right now based on year-over-year home price change, home sales, the share of homes sold above listing price, and the speed of the sale. The majority of the hot counties are on the East and West coast, with only one in the South and Midwest. El Dorado County, Calif. took the first place spot for hottest county with the fastest growth in homebuyer competition.
El Dorado County, CA came in first place, with measures of homebuyer competition surging faster than any other U.S. county in the last year. Spanning from the eastern outskirts of Sacramento to the southern half of Lake Tahoe (but not including the city of Sacramento, which is in Sacramento County), the region has seen home sales skyrocket nearly 60% over the last year as buyers have flocked from the Bay Area, despite the fact that it’s located in a fire-prone area, with the most recent wildfire igniting in early September. It’s the most expensive county in the top 10, with a median sale price of $550,000, but that’s relatively affordable compared with $1.45 million, the median sale price in nearby San Francisco. Scroll down to see a full table of the top 10 counties.
“We’re seeing a huge influx of buyers coming to El Dorado County from the Bay Area,” said local Redfin agent Ellie Hitchcock. “With so many large tech companies allowing employees to work from home for the foreseeable future, homeowners in San Francisco are selling their two-bedroom, two-bathroom Condo and buying a 5,000-square-foot home with five bedrooms and five bathrooms on an acre of land here for the same price. It’s simply a no-brainer.”
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