The fastest- and slowest-selling housing markets in April 2024

Home sales remain at multi-decade lows, thanks to high mortgage rates that aren't giving out.

Even though sales aren't looking up nationwide, there's no shortage of red-hot housing markets where listings are flying off the market in a matter of days.

In parts of the Midwest, for example, most homes go under contract in less than a week. By contrast, the once-booming Sun Belt often takes over 50 days to sell.

In the third installment of this report, Creditnews Research ranked the fastest- and slowest-selling housing markets in April and compared how housing hot spots evolved over the past year.

The April report saw a major reshuffling of the top 10 rankings. In fact, six new metro areas made it to the top 10 fastest-selling list, and three new metros came in among the ten slowest.

Key findings

• Eight of the top 10 fastest-selling metros in April 2024 are in the Midwest, one is on the East Coast, and another is in the southeastern part of the country;
• The metros that came out on top are Cincinnati, OH; Kansas City, MO; Columbus, OH; Dayton, OH; and Washington, D.C;
• The top 10 slowest-selling metros are mainly clustered around the Southern states, including McAllen, TX; Sarasota, FL; Cape Coral, FL; Miami, FL; and Daytona Beach, FL;
• Las Vegas, NV, was the biggest “winner” in April, with the median number of listing days declining by 56.7% compared to a year earlier;
• The biggest “loser” was El Paso, TX, where a home stayed on the market 140% longer than in April 2023;
• Overall, the median number of days a home stayed on the market declined in 44 metros, stayed the same in 20 metros, and increased in 36 metros.

The top 10 fastest-selling markets

Home sale patterns suggest Americans are flocking to more affordable regions.

In April, eight of the top 10 fastest-selling housing markets came from the Midwest, with five in Ohio alone.

That’s a much bigger concentration of best sellers in the Midwest than in Q1 2024, in which only two of the 10 fastest-selling metros came from that region.

Like in the Q1 2024 report, the National Capital Region made it onto the top 10 list, thanks in large part to a strong local economy and higher wages.

• Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN: As of April 2024, Cincinnati is one of five metros with a median days to pending of just four days—unchanged from a year ago. This southern Ohio metro has a large pool of available properties for sale, with inventories increasing by 9.6% year over year. Despite that, home listings spend very little time on the market.
• Kansas City, MO-KS: The median days-to-pending for Kansas City home listings is four days, unchanged from a year ago. However, with a housing inventory rank of 53, Kansas City has the second-lowest inventory level in the top 10, making it an increasingly competitive market.
• Columbus, OH: The second Ohio metro in the top 10 list, Columbus, has a median days to pending of just four days, unchanged from a year ago. That comes despite a 13.6% increase in new housing inventory.
• Dayton–Kettering–Beavercreek, OH: Dayton is quietly becoming one of the tightest housing markets in the Midwest. Its median days-to-pending declined by 20% to four days, and its inventory levels increased by only 4.9% year over year.
• Washington–Arlington–Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV: The National Capital Region once again cracks the top 10, with the average house spending five days on the market before reaching pending status. That’s 16.7% lower than in April 2023. This metro area is the most expensive housing market to make the top 10, but demand remains strong thanks to a vibrant labor market (i.e., government jobs) and high salaries.
• St. Louis, MO-IL: Based on inventory levels, St. Louis has one of the tightest housing markets in the top 10. The metro has a median days-to-pending of five days, but its inventory rank of 50 puts it lower than any other metro in the top 10.
• Cleveland, OH: Another Ohio metro, Cleveland, has a median days-to-pending of just five days. Within the top 10, Cleveland stands out for two reasons: it had the biggest year-over-year drops in median days on the market (-28.6%) and inventory levels (-7.1%).
• Richmond, VA: Richmond once again cracks the top 10 list, albeit at a slightly lower rank than in Q1. The metro area’s median days to pending is also five days, unchanged from April 2023.
• Omaha, NE-IA: Homes in Nebraska’s largest metro spend just five days on the market before reaching pending status, which is 25% higher than a year ago. Inventory levels also rose sharply, climbing 20.5% compared to April 2023.
• Toledo, OH: Rounding out the top 10 is Toledo, which has seen stable housing conditions over the past year. The metro area’s median days-to-pending of five days is unchanged, as is its inventory rank.

The top 10 slowest-selling metros

With the exception of Poughkeepsie, NY, all of the top 10 slowest-selling metro areas are clustered in the Southern states, including six in Florida and two in Texas.

The only other state that made the cut was Louisiana.

Once again, McAllen, TX, is the slowest-selling housing market as of April, with a median days-to-pending of 59 days. That’s a 40.5% jump compared to a year earlier.

In the Florida metro of Sarasota, a median home stays on the market for 46 days before reaching pending status. That’s a staggering 130% increase compared to April 2023.

Housing inventories in Sarasota also surged by 39.6%, the biggest increase in the bottom 10.

In the Florida metros of Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Miami, Daytona Beach, Jacksonville, and Lakeland-Winter Haven, a median home stays on the market between 33 days and 42 days before reaching pending status.

Despite the slow sales pace, these Florida metro areas have some of the lowest housing inventories in the country. In fact, Cape Coral-Fort Myers and Sarasota have the first and second-lowest inventories in the country, respectively.

Austin, TX, was the second-slowest housing market in the first quarter, but conditions have improved somewhat. It now takes 31 days for an average home to go under contract, down 27.9% from a year earlier.

The only northern metro in the bottom 10 was Poughkeepsie, NY, where it took 30 days for an average home to reach pending status—a 10.7% increase compared to a year ago.

New Orleans, LA, rounds out the bottom 10, with median days to pending of 30 days—up 25% year over year.

The biggest winners and losers since April 2023

The past year saw a not-so-small reshuffling of housing hot spots across America.

Las Vegas, NV, was by far the biggest winner as of April 2024, with homes spending 56.7% fewer days on the market than a year earlier. In April, Las Vegas’ median days-to-pending was just 13 days, down sharply from 30 days.

The pace of home sales also improved significantly in the California metros of San Jose and Stockton, where the median days to pending each declined by 41.2%.

As of April, an average home in Ogden, UT, had been on the market for 10 days, down sharply from 17 days a year earlier.

At just six days, Detroit, MI, now has the lowest median days on the market among the biggest winners. That represents a 40% drop compared to April 2023.

In Phoenix, AZ, homes now sit on the market for 21 days before reaching pending status, down from 33 days a year earlier.

Provo, UT; Scranton, PA; Chicago, IL; and Salt Lake City, UT, round out April’s biggest winners. In each of these metro areas, the median days a house stayed on the market declined by more than 30% compared to a year earlier.

Below are the top 10 metros with the largest decreases in median days to pending:

The next table provides a list of the metro areas with the biggest year-over-year increase in days on the market during April 2024.

All the worst performers are located in the Southern states, including four in Florida. In El Paso, TX, and Sarasota, FL, homes have been on the market for more than twice as long as they were a year earlier.