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Realtor.com’s annual prediction of the hottest housing markets for 2026 placed Hartford in the lead and New Haven not far behind.
Amid expectations for cooling national price growth and modest mortgage rate relief, buyers are increasingly focused on value. As a result, “refuge markets” are attracting shoppers from larger, high-cost metros seeking relative affordability, more space for the price and greater market stability, the company’s researchers said.
“We expect a more balanced housing market in 2026, leaning slightly in buyers’ favor compared with 2025, as modest improvements in affordability, driven by mortgage rate relief and slower home price growth, give incomes a bit more room to catch up,” Danielle Hale, chief economist at Realtor.com, said in a statement. “Our 2026 top housing markets offer better value than nearby high-cost hubs, yet steady demand and persistent inventory shortages keep prices moving upward. For buyers, that can mean more competition and faster price gains. For sellers and homeowners, it signals strong demand or home price appreciation and equity gains.”
The 2026 top markets share several characteristics – relatively affordable homes, limited new construction, lower mortgage lock-in pressure, and older, financially well-qualified households – but their unifying advantage is strong value for buyers. The median list price across the top 10 is $384,000, below the national median of $415,000, making these metros attractive to both first-time buyers and those relocating from higher cost areas. Strong out-of-state interest and limited inventory is also a factor, Hale and her colleagues said. In Hartford and New Haven, inventory is down 60 percent or more below pre-pandemic levels.
Realtor.com’s analysis suggests Greater Hartford could see existing home sales grow 7.6 percent and the median sale price grow 9.5 percent year-over-year in 2026. Meanwhile, New Haven could see the number of existing home sales grow 2.6 percent and its median sale price grow 7.7 percent.
The company said its forecast uses data on the housing market and overall economy to estimate 2026 values for these variables for the 100 largest U.S. metropolitan statistical areas by household size. These markets are then ranked by combined forecasted growth in home prices and sales. Results are calculated to three decimal places and ranked at this degree of specificity, there were no ties. For publication, results are rounded to one decimal place, and this can result in minor differences between the rounded and unrounded sums.
Realtor.com’s predictions for the 10 hottest markets of 2026 are:
- Greater Hartford
- Rochester, New York
- Worcester, Massachusetts
- Toledo, Ohio
- Providence, Rhode Island
- Richmond, Virginia
- Grand Rapids, Michigan
- Milwaukee, Wiscosin
- New Haven
- Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
