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Zillow economists have an economic model known as the Zillow Market Heat Index to gauge the competitiveness of housing markets across the country. This model looks at key indicators—including home price changes, inventory levels, and days on market—to generate a score showing whether a market favors sellers or buyers.

A higher score indicates a hotter metro-level housing market where sellers have more power. A lower score indicates a colder metro-level housing market where buyers have more power.

According to Zillow:

• Score of 70 or above = strong sellers market

• Score from 55 to 69 = sellers market

• Score from 44 to 55 = neutral market

• Score from 28 to 44 = buyers market

• Score of 27 or below = strong buyers market

Nationally, Zillow rates the U.S. housing market at 55 for its April 2025 reading, published in May 2025.

That said, Zillow’s reading varies significantly across the county.

Click here to view an interactive of the map below

Among the 250 largest metro area housing markets, these 10 are the HOTTEST markets, where sellers have the most power, according to Zillow:

1. Rochester, NY —> 169

2. Buffalo, NY —> 126

3. Charleston, WV —> 107

4. Syracuse, NY —> 105

5. Hartford, CT —> 97

6. Albany, NY —> 97

7. Manchester, NH —> 93

8. Anchorage, AK —> 86

9. Boston, MA —> 85

10. Lansing, MI —> 85

Among the 250 largest metro area housing markets, these 10 are the COLDEST markets, where buyers have the most power, according to Zillow:

1. Jackson, TN —> 23

2. Macon, GA —> 25

3. Gulfport, MS —> 26

4. Brownsville, TX —> 27

5. Naples, FL —> 27

6. Cape Coral, FL —> 30

7. Daphne, AL —> 30

8. Panama City, FL —> 30

9. Punta Gorda, FL —> 31

10. Beaumont, TX —> 33

5 ResiClub thoughts on Zillow’s latest assessment

1. Directionally, there’s a lot Zillow gets right. We believe Zillow has correctly identified many regional housing markets where buyers have gained the most leverage—particularly around the Gulf. It also highlights areas where sellers have maintained, relatively speaking, some degree of control, including large portions of the Northeast and Midwest.

2. Zillow is slightly overstating Northeast and Midwest tightness. While there are still some relatively competitive pockets in those regions, Zillow’s model appears to exaggerate the strength of seller conditions. In the real world, many of these markets feel more neutral or only slightly tilted toward sellers—not full-blown “strong seller’s markets” as the model suggests.

3. Zillow is also overstating seller strength on the West Coast. Conditions on the West Coast have clearly softened over the past year, and Zillow’s model doesn’t fully reflect that shift.

4. The softest housing markets right now: Southwest Florida and Central Texas. Based on my personal housing market analysis, Florida, in particular, Southwest Florida currently stands out as the softest region in the country, followed by Central Texas markets such as Austin and San Antonio.

5. Zillow’s Market Heat Index is useful—but our ResiClub PRO reports go deeper. While I like tracking Zillow’s Market Heat Index, I believe the monthly ResiClub PRO reports—especially our inventory analysis across +800 metros and +3,000 counties and our home price analysis across 800+ metros and 3,000+ counties—do a better job of keeping housing stakeholders ahead of market shifts and better informed on current market dynamics.

What did this Zillow analysis look like back in spring 2022 at the climax of the Pandemic Housing Boom?

Below is Zillow’s April 2022 reading—published in May 2022.

ResiClub PRO members (paid tier) get greater access to our housing reporting:

• 3 additional subscriber-only housing research articles per week

• Monthly ResiClub PRO Webinar

• Access to Lance Lambert's housing trackers—includes metro and county level price and inventory analysis

• Subscriber-only residential real estate research, rankings, and reports

• Can incorporate ResiClub branded charts into marketing/research materials

On Tuesday, the year-over-year rate of national home price growth decelerated from…

+3.9% ---> +3.8% via the FHFA House Price Index

+3.9% ---> +3.4% via the Case-Shiller National House Price Index

Nationally aggregated home price appreciation this spring remains softer than normal, with some seasonally adjusted measures even showing month-over-month declines. That’s creating a clear deceleration.

We’ve been doing more research consulting projects (specifically SFR). If your firm is interested in discussing that type of work, email [email protected].