- San Jose, Calif., metro leads the nation as the toughest housing market to find a home with just four homes for sale per every 1,000 homeowner households
- The median listing price for the top 20 toughest housing markets is 40 percent higher than the average major metro
- Florida dominates list of easiest markets to find a home, with Fort Myers topping the list at nearly 38 for sale listings for every 1,000 households
- Top 20 easiest markets are healthy and growing with abundant supply of homes
The scarcity of homes is reflected in the market prices, and the trend in most of the toughest markets is toward even fewer homes for sale. The average median listing price for the top 20 toughest markets was $480,830 in January, 40 percent higher than the average median price of the top 100 largest markets. In addition, 17 of the top 20 toughest markets began 2020 with double-digit annual declines in available inventory, with a handful of markets seeing more than a 30 percent drop, including San Jose, San Francisco, Seattle, Salt Lake City and San Diego.
| Rank | Metro | Listings Per 1000 Households | Jan. 2020 Active Listing Count YoY | Jan. 2020 Median Listing Price | Jan. 2020 Median Listing Price YoY |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, Calif. | 4 | -37% | $1,099,550 | 10% |
| 2 | San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, Calif. | 5.2 | -30% | $907,550 | 10% |
| 3 | Buffalo-Cheektowaga-Niagara Falls, N.Y. | 6.1 | -16% | $197,950 | 10% |
| 4 | Rochester, N.Y. | 7.1 | -21% | $218,450 | 15% |
| 5 | Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, Wash. | 7.2 | -32% | $599,675 | 6% |
| 6 | Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis, Wis. | 7.7 | -13% | $287,500 | 6% |
| 7 | Columbus, Ohio | 8.1 | -9% | $285,000 | 13% |
| 8 | Salt Lake City, Utah | 8.3 | -39% | $459,500 | 14% |
| 9 | Boston-Cambridge-Newton, Mass.-N.H. | 8.4 | -23% | $590,000 | 10% |
| 10 | Springfield, Mass. | 8.6 | -20% | $277,500 | 11% |
| 11 | Harrisburg-Carlisle, Pa. | 8.7 | -28% | $242,075 | 11% |
| 12 | San Diego-Carlsbad, Calif. | 8.8 | -34% | $734,550 | 11% |
| 13 | Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, D.C.-Va.-M.-W.Va. | 8.9 | -23% | $479,950 | 11% |
| 14 | Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, Calif. | 9 | -23% | $827,525 | 18% |
| 15 | Grand Rapids-Wyoming, Mich. | 9.1 | -9% | $297,950 | 7% |
| 16 | Madison, Wis. | 9.1 | -11% | $352,500 | 3% |
| 17 | Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, Calif. | 9.2 | -19% | $843,974 | 31% |
| 18 | Sacramento–Roseville–Arden-Arcade, Calif. | 9.2 | -28% | $500,000 | 11% |
| 19 | Cincinnati, Ohio-Ky.-Ind. | 9.3 | -24% | $267,450 | 12% |
| 20 | Akron, Ohio | 9.4 | -6% | $147,950 | -2% |