'The place to be right now': Zillow names Cincinnati second hottest housing market in US

CINCINNATI — Cincinnati will be the second hottest housing market in the country in 2024, according to an analysis by Zillow. The region is up from No. 14 on last year’s list. “This is the place to be right now,” said real estate agent Mark Rolfes. “We still have unbelievable affordability and bang for the buck.” Realtor.com says the nation’s median home price is $420,000.

MLS data shows 65% of homes in the Cincinnati area are listed at or below that price. “You just have this remarkable breadth of options that’s not going to, at least by national standards, break the bank,” Rolfes said. Zillow also took into account job growth for the region, which realtor Brooke McCabe said is a major factor for people wanting to move to Cincinnati.

The city’s growth is “really attracting people to stay here and come here,” McCabe said. Communities where people can live, work, and play are also attractive to homebuyers, she said. Chanel Johnson bought her home in Fairfield last year. Her realtor, Jada Brown, said there wasn’t a bidding war.

It’s a trend Brown said she’s seeing more and more of in the Tri State. “Two years ago you were probably fighting with 20 to 30 other buyers for one house, now it may be five or even less,” she said. Brown said right now is one of the best times to buy: “It is not crazy at all.” The market’s current state isn’t a buyer’s or seller’s, according to realtor Tahmeeka O’Neal.

“We do have a lot of balance which is coming back to the market, which we hadn’t seen here for a long time,” she said. “You can get real estate right now at a very good price, and if you're a seller, you can still sell your property and get a lot of profit out of the sale.” While mortgage rates are still higher than their record low during the Covid 19 pandemic, recent rate decreases have more buyers getting off of the sidelines, real estate agents said.

“The market has been consistently hot for several years now,” said O’Neal. “I do kind of see that continuing on in 2024.”.