These Housing Markets Are a Winter Wonderland for Buyers

Looking for a new home? Try one of these 10 markets that realtor.com found are top deals during the holidays. It could seem daunting to buy a home between party jumping and making the green bean casserole your Aunt Pamela requested, but the lower demand means that buyers can now save big in some markets. From Honolulu, Hawaii, to Buffalo, New York, there are cities to match the personality of any homebuyer looking to seal the deal this holiday season.

The holidays are a time of celebration and togetherness—but also of hectic planning, weird family hassles, high stress, and lousy weather in much of the U.S. Plus "Love Actually" and "Die Hard" are on basic cable around the clock! It all adds up to the very worst time of year to buy a home. Right?

Spoiler: Not necessarily! In some parts of the country, the holiday season can actually be a bonanza for buyers. You just need to know where to look. The realtor.com data team uncovered 10 markets where sales are particularly strong during the holidays. And you might be surprised by some of the entries on this list.

So what can make the holiday season such a great time to buy? From Thanksgiving through early January, fewer people are looking for properties, so there's a lot less competition. Buyers are likely to get more undivided attention from sellers, and, because this is the time of year when people burn off vacation days, they may have more time on their hands to dedicate to home search.

“This time of the year is a traditional vacation period, so buyers have time to look at homes and not just on weekends, which gives them more flexibility," says George Ratiu, senior economist at realtor.com®. “And sellers can spend time showing their houses in a less frantic environment."

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