Tampa Takes the Top Spot as 2022's Hottest Market

For the second year in a row, the Sun Belt is dominating Zillow’s list of the nation’s hottest housing markets with metros like Tampa, Jacksonville, and Raleigh securing the top spots. The top five hottest markets for 2022 are expected to see strong home value growth, high job growth, and increased buyer demand. Tampa is on track to rise from the city with the fourth-fastest home value growth in 2021 to the nation’s top market with the fastest growth in 2022, according to Zillow.

Even in cooler markets like New York, San Francisco, and Chicago, sellers will continue to have the upper hand as low inventory keeps prices high months into the new year.

The housing market in 2022 is expected to remain hot overall, with many of the same trends that drove the market to new heights this year still firmly in place as we head into the New Year. But while all of the nation’s 50 largest markets are expected to grow healthily in 2022 and sellers nationwide should expect to remain in the driver’s seat, there can be only one Number One – and Zillow expects Tampa to top the list, with a host of relatively affordable and fast-growing Sun Belt markets following closely behind.

Home value growth in 2021 consistently broke records, both nationally and in many local markets. This growth has been fueled by historically low mortgage interest rates, pandemic-influenced decisions on where households want to live, and demographic shifts – both from aging millennials and retiring/downsizing boomers – that have all combined to keep housing demand very high. At the same time, inventory of available housing has been limited, as builders play catch-up after years of underbuilding and sellers list their homes in fewer numbers. None of those trends is expected to change much in 2022 from 2021, and limited housing supply coupled with sky-high housing demand is a classic Econ 101 recipe for rising home values.

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