These Are The Hottest Neighborhoods In Each City, According To a New Real Estate Study

published Feb 12, 2018
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(Image credit: Esteban Cortez)

Real estate brokerage Redfin this month announced its hottest neighborhoods in the U.S. — and an astounding nine of the top 10 are in the San Jose, Calif., metro area. The only outlier is just up the road in San Francisco, and every last one had a median sale price of over $1 million in December.

Perhaps self-conscious about how absurd that all appears, Redfin threw a nice bone to those of us who aren’t in the market for a million-dollar home in Northern California. They compiled a list of the hottest “within reach” neighborhoods — those where the median sale price didn’t exceed the national median of $286,700.

While popular Midwestern enclaves in Minneapolis (Stevens Square), Milwaukee (Brewer’s Hill), St. Louis (Downtown), and Columbus, Ohio (Misty Meadows), understandably made the cut, I was surprised to see some corners of otherwise very expensive markets top the list.

The two hottest “within reach” neighborhoods are both in Washington: suburban-feeling Hillcrest, where the median sale price was only $125,000, and Metro-friendly Deanwood on the Maryland border. No. 3 on the list is Riverview in red-hot Seattle, with a median sale price of $270,000.

Redfin uses recent growth trends in page views and homes saved as favorites to make its hottest neighborhood predictions. And while these are some of the neighborhoods seeing the most interest nationwide, Redfin also singled out the three hottest ‘hoods in each of nearly 50 major metropolitan areas.

In Seattle, the hottest neighborhoods — First Hill and Central District, both downtown, and Cedar Park, farther north on Lake Washington — all had median home prices in the $500,000s. Homes in First Hill sold in just seven days on average. And as mentioned, Riverview was one of the hottest affordable neighborhoods in the country.

Around Boston, the hottest neighborhoods are all in immediate suburbs: Downtown Medford, Newton Corner, and Malden’s Suffolk Square. Roughly half or more of homes sold above asking price in these areas, and the median time on market was less than two weeks for each — even in cold December.

And if the New York City real estate market confounds you, you’re not alone: Redfin says the data were too muddled in most of the New York metro area, so they were only able to determine the three hottest neighborhoods in Queens: Clearview, Maspeth, and Briarwood.

Below are Redfin’s picks for the hottest three neighborhoods in 30 major markets, along with the median sale price as of December 2017; see the full list, including smaller cities, and a full data breakdown for each, over at Redfin’s blog.


Atlanta

  1. Hunter Hills – $57,000
  2. Princeton Lakes -$218,000
  3. Washington Park – $85,000

Austin, Texas

  1. South Lamar – $422,250
  2. North Lamar – $225,500
  3. North University – $363,650


Baltimore

  1. Charles Village – $254,000
  2. Dorchester – $91,250
  3. Roland Park -$620,000

Boston

  1. Downtown Medford (Medford, Mass.) – $534,750
  2. Newton Corner (Newton, Mass.) – $1,015,000
  3. Suffolk Square (Malden, Mass.) – $423,500

Chicago

  1. Country Lakes (Naperville, Ill.) – $207,250
  2. Belmont Gardens – $278,950
  3. North Lawndale – $127,000

Cleveland

  1. Cedar Fairmont (Cleveland Heights, Ohio) – $319,000
  2. Warehouse District – $146,500
  3. Bay Village (Bay Village, Ohio) – $230,000

Dallas

  1. Waterview (Rowlett, Texas)- $315,000
  2. Alamo Heights (Fort Worth, Texas) – $199,900
  3. Western Hills North (Fort Worth, Texas) – $169,900

Denver

  1. Green Mountain Park (Lakewood, Colo.) – $475,000
  2. Applewood (Lakewood, Colo.) – $473,500
  3. Regis – $441,000

Detroit

  1. Southwest Detroit – $35,000
  2. Pleasant Ridge (Pleasant Ridge, Mich.) – $245,000
  3. Northwest Warren (Warren, Mich.) – $156,700

Houston

  1. Lawndale-Wayside – $239,000
  2. Sea Isle (Galveston, Texas) – $295,000
  3. El Lago (El Lago, Texas) – $216,000

Kansas City

  1. Hyde Park – $215,000
  2. Briarcliff – $187,988
  3. Shawnee (Overland Park, Ks.) – $269,925

Las Vegas

  1. Summerlin West – $459,900
  2. Green Valley Ranch (Henderson, Nev.) – $309,000
  3. Centennial Hills – $258,000

Los Angeles

  1. Annandale (Pasadena, Calif.) – $1,203,500
  2. Los Altos North (Long Beach, Calif.) – $643,000
  3. McNeil (Burbank, Calif.) – $801,000

Miami

  1. Granada (Coral Gables, Fla.) – $494,500
  2. Sunset West – $437,500
  3. Little Haiti – $205,000

Milwaukee

  1. Brewer’s Hill – $260,000
  2. Murray Hill – $185,500
  3. Historic Third Ward – $247,450

Minneapolis

  1. Stevens Square – $117,000
  2. East Harriet – $363,000
  3. Jordan – $145,000

New Orleans

  1. East Riverside – $499,000
  2. Bywater – $345,000
  3. Pontchartrain Shores (Metairie, La.) – $265,000

Oakland

  1. Blacow (Fremont, Calif.) – $1,005,000
  2. Fairfax – $640,000
  3. Grand Lake – $823,000

Orlando, Fla.

  1. Richmond Heights – $125,000
  2. Audubon Park – $248,000
  3. Falcon Trace – $259,000

Philadelphia

  1. Fitler Square – $715,000
  2. Southwest Germantown – $99,500
  3. Roxborough – $240,000

Phoenix

  1. Arcadia (Scottsdale, Ariz.) – $552,500
  2. Vistancia (Peoria, Ariz.) – $359,000
  3. Warner Ranch (Tempe, Ariz.) – $331,750

Pittsburgh

  1. Mount Washington- $132,000
  2. Highland Park – $315,000
  3. Point Breeze – $408,500

Portland, Ore.

  1. Hillside – $950,000
  2. North Tabor – $405,000
  3. Gresham (Gresham, Ore.) – $280,000

Queens, N.Y.

  1. Clearview – $703,500
  2. Maspeth – $818,000
  3. Briarwood – $315,000

San Diego

  1. Scripps Ranch – $1,375,000
  2. Otay Ranch (Chula Vista, Calif.) – $375,000
  3. South Oceanside (Oceanside, Calif.) – $737,500

San Francisco

  1. Sunnyside – $1,275,000
  2. Mission Terrace – $1,014,500
  3. Ingleside – $1,100,000

San Jose, Calif.

  1. Bucknall – $1,565,000
  2. Cambrian -$1,244,000
  3. White Oak – $1,010,000

Seattle

  1. First Hill – $580,000
  2. Central District – $544,475
  3. Cedar Park – $586,000

St. Louis

  1. Downtown St. Louis – $139,900
  2. Shaw Historic District – $280,050
  3. Benton Park West – $61,538

Washington

  1. Hillcrest – $125,000
  2. Deanwood – $248,500
  3. Bluemont (Arlington, Va.) – $729,000