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Altoona, Pennsylvania, also ranked among the top 20 fastest-growing metros nationwide. Housing professionals say the gains point to continued migration toward lower-cost markets where buyers can still find entry-level homes, even as mortgage rates<\/a> remain elevated.<\/p>\n Pittsburgh<\/a> stood out among larger markets as the metro posted a 4.35% price increase in 2025, placing it No. 4 nationally among large metros.<\/p>\n Colvin said the volume of all-cash transactions<\/a> in his service area today continue to dwarf was what seen before COVID-19.<\/p>\n \u201cPrior to COVID, we averaged about 3% cash transactions, and last year that number jumped to 32% of all our transactions being cash,\u201d he said. \u201cThe reason is that people are moving here from larger metropolitan areas like New York, Baltimore and Philadelphia because of the affordability in western Pennsylvania. <\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re able to sell their homes there, come here and purchase outright with cash. Some are retiring<\/a>, and others are working from home, but either way, that influx of buyers has made a major impact on demand and pricing.\u201d<\/p>\n Other high-performing small and midsized metros included Springfield, Illinois; Abilene, Texas; and Danville, Virginia.<\/p>\n Most of these markets started the year with median prices well below $300,000 \u2014 amplifying percentage gains as demand increased.<\/p>\n Large markets struggle to gain traction<\/p>\n Across the 50 largest metros by inventory, prices declined by an average of 0.14% in 2025, HousingWire Data found.<\/p>\n More large markets experienced price declines than gains, highlighting a widening gap between smaller and larger housing markets.<\/p>\n Among the strongest large-market performers were North Port\u2013Bradenton\u2013Sarasota, Florida, with an 8.27% increase, and Seattle\u2013Tacoma\u2013Bellevue, Washington, which posted 6.17% growth.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile much of the country spent 2025 looking for a bottom, Seattle found its floor early,\u201d said Jeff Reynolds, a Seattle<\/a>-based managing broker for Compass. \u201cWe\u2019re seeing a bifurcated recovery. While national medians are struggling to keep pace with inflation<\/a>, Seattle\u2019s median home price, which has now stabilized around $915,000, reflects a market that has moved past the shock of higher rates.<\/p>\n \u201cWe aren\u2019t seeing the double-digit spikes of the pandemic, but Seattle\u2019s scarcity of land and high-income concentration mean we are comfortably outperforming the national average. We are trading at more than double the U.S. median.\u201d<\/p>\n Charlotte<\/a>, North Carolina, and Columbus, Ohio, also ended the year modestly higher.<\/p>\n By contrast, several high-profile metros saw notable declines.<\/p>\n Austin<\/a> recorded a 6.2% drop in prices. The Florida markets of Cape Coral\u2013Fort Myers and Miami, along with Portland, Oregon, and Memphis, Tennessee, also finished the year in negative territory.<\/p>\n Reynolds said a continued influx of technology jobs in Seattle \u2014 especially in the artificial intelligence (AI) sector \u2014 has helped avoid negative market outcomes.<\/p>\n \u201cIn Seattle, we\u2019re forecasting a healthy, sustainable growth rate of 2% to 4% this year,\u201d he said. \u201cThis isn\u2019t speculative growth. It is supported by the AI wealth effect. We\u2019re seeing a new wave of high-earning tech talent from the AI sector entering the market. Unlike 2021, they are coming in with significant stock-driven down payments. Seattle remains a supply-constrained fortress.<\/p>\n \u201cEven with new density laws<\/a>, we simply aren\u2019t building fast enough to keep up with the workforce. This puts a permanent upward pressure on home values here that you just don\u2019t see in the Sun Belt.\u201d<\/p>\n Affordability, market divides<\/p>\n HousingWire Data shows that smaller metros consistently outperformed larger ones in 2025.<\/p>\n Markets with limited inventory \u2014 typically fewer than 500 active listings \u2014 saw sharper price increases, suggesting that supply constraints played a key role.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat I would like to see is new construction<\/a>,\u201d Colvin said. \u201cThat is one area that we do not have for resale value. We do have developments where folks have bought the lots, and then they go directly to the builder and build their homes. That has seen an increase, but we don\u2019t have any builders building new homes that we would be able to do as resale now.<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of our inventory here is older, and we do have a lot of folks that are buying the properties. They\u2019re fixing them<\/a> all up, bringing them all up to date and then reselling.\u201d<\/p>\n Lower starting price points also mattered in 2025. The average starting price among the top 20 fastest-growing metros was about $300,000, significantly below prices in major coastal and Sun Belt markets. <\/p>\n This affordability<\/a> advantage appears to have drawn buyers priced out of larger cities.<\/p>\n \u201cThe consensus for 2026 and beyond has shifted from waiting for a drop to managing the plateau,\u201d Reynolds said about nationwide market expectations for 2026. \u201cWe expect the 30-year fixed (rate) to hover in that 5.8% to 6.3% corridor for the foreseeable future. The \u2018Great Housing Reset\u2019<\/a> of 2026 is driven by the realization that the Federal Reserve<\/a> has found its neutral rate.<\/p>\n![\"table](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1767889929_364_thumbnail.jpeg\")
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