--- title: Here Are the Top 20 Emerging Housing Markets for Spring 2023 description: In a new report, Midwestern areas dominate the list of emerging real estate markets thanks to their affordability. authors: - name: Brenden Rearick role: Reporter url: https://money.com/author/brenden-rearick/ bio: Brenden Rearick is a former news reporter at Money who specialized in mortgages, real estate, and personal finance topics. education: University of Pittsburgh, BA at_money_since: 2023 articles: 133 covers: - Housing - Banking - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Economy and Politics - Education - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes - Technology former_staff: true published: '2023-04-28T20:30:36.000Z' modified: '2024-04-29T05:20:35.000Z' section: Housing tags: - News word_count: 393 canonical: https://money.com/top-emerging-housing-markets-spring-2023/ type: NewsArticle source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![Picture of Indiana](https://img.money.com/2023/04/News-Emerging-House-Markets-2023.jpg) The Midwestern U.S. is known for its hospitality — and appropriately, residents will be doing a lot of welcoming to the influx of people expected to move into the region this year. New [rankings](https://www.realtor.com/research/april-2023-wsj-rdc-emerging-housing-markets-index/) from Realtor.com and the *Wall Street Journal* point to the Lafayette, Indiana, metropolitan area as the cream of the crop when it comes to emerging housing markets. In all, the report features 13 Midwestern cities among its top 20 best [markets for homebuyers](https://money.com/trends-shaping-spring-housing-market/) in 2023. Even as a new Redfin report shows that average prices are [down over 22%](https://www.redfin.com/news/housing-market-update-new-listings-decline/) from this time last year, housing affordability is still near its [lowest point ever](https://money.com/housing-affordability-lowest-level-in-history/). So, to give buyers an idea of where their money might go the furthest, the researchers took 300 of the nation’s largest metro areas and evaluated each on affordability, cost of living, local economy and crowdedness, among other metrics. Whereas [last year’s list](https://money.com/next-hot-place-real-estate-realtor-com/) was peppered with warm coastal and Sun Belt cities, this year’s is all about the Great Lakes region and the Northeast. These are the markets that topped the rankings: 1. Lafayette-West Lafayette, Indiana 2. Bloomington, Illinois 3. Elkhart-Goshen, Indiana 4. Lebanon, Pennsylvania 5. Fort Wayne, Indiana 6. Topeka, Kansas 7. Sioux City, Iowa-Nebraska-South Dakota 8. Omaha-Council Bluffs, Nebraska-Iowa 9. Springfield, Illinois 10. Manchester-[Nashua, New Hampshire](https://money.com/collection-post/nashua-new-hampshire/) 11. Janesville-Beloit, Wisconsin 12. Columbus, Ohio 13. La Crosse-Onalaska, Wisconsin-Minnesota 14. Johnson City, Tennessee 15. Springfield, Ohio 16. Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton, North Carolina 17. Burlington, North Carolina 18. Columbia, Missouri 19. Waterloo-Cedar Falls, Iowa 20. Knoxville, Tennessee ## The takeaway The [housing market is tough](https://money.com/buyers-sellers-housing-market-pessimism/) right now. Redfin's report notes that prices won't come down further until [inventory](https://money.com/why-are-there-no-houses-for-sale/) picks up. At the same time, many sellers are loath to list because they will have to give up their ultra-low, [pandemic-era mortgage rates](https://money.com/low-mortgage-rates-trap-home-sellers/) in exchange for one that's potentially double or even triple the size. Amid these conditions, persistent [inflation](https://money.com/march-2023-inflation-interest-rates-market/) and the threat of a recession, the Midwest and Northeast are shining through as the “hottest” regions for home buying. That's due in large part to their affordability: Nineteen of the cities have a median home listing price under $500,000. Buyers are hoping to make their money go as far as possible, and these emerging housing markets offer an opportunity to do that. [Current Mortgage Rates are Still Rising](https://money.com/current-mortgage-rates/) [Why Seasonality Doesn't Matter in the Housing Market This Spring](https://money.com/mortgage-rates-affect-housing-market-seasonality/) [Owning a Home Now Costs an Average of $17,500 a Year — Not Counting the Mortgage](https://money.com/costs-owning-home-above-mortgage/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/top-emerging-housing-markets-spring-2023/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Housing", "item": "https://money.com/housing/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Housing Market", "item": "https://money.com/housing-market/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Here Are the Top 20 Emerging Housing Markets for Spring 2023" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/top-emerging-housing-markets-spring-2023/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/top-emerging-housing-markets-spring-2023/", "name": "Here Are the Top 20 Emerging Housing Markets for Spring 2023", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2023-04-28T20:30:36.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/top-emerging-housing-markets-spring-2023/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/top-emerging-housing-markets-spring-2023/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2024-04-29T05:20:35.000Z" }, { "@type": "NewsArticle", "headline": "Here Are the Top 20 Emerging Housing Markets for Spring 2023", "articleSection": "Housing", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2023/04/News-Emerging-House-Markets-2023.jpg", "width": 2880, "height": 1920, "caption": "News-Emerging-House-Markets-2023" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Brenden Rearick", "url": "https://money.com/author/brenden-rearick/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/brenden-rearick/#author", "description": "Brenden Rearick is a former news reporter at Money who specialized in mortgages, real estate, and personal finance topics.\r\n\r\n", "email": "brenden.rearick@money.com", "alumniOf": "University of Pittsburgh, BA" } ], "publisher": "https://money.com/#organization", "datePublished": "2023-04-28T20:30:36.000Z", "description": "In a new report, Midwestern areas dominate the list of emerging real estate markets thanks to their affordability.", "abstract": "In a new report, Midwestern areas dominate the list of emerging real estate markets thanks to their affordability.", "@id": "https://money.com/top-emerging-housing-markets-spring-2023/", "inLanguage": "en-US", "dateModified": "2024-04-29T05:20:35.000Z", "wordCount": 393, "keywords": [ "News" ], "about": [ { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Housing in the United States", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Housing_in_the_United_States" ] }, { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Housing market", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Housing_market" ] } ] } ] } ```