Suburban enclaves located within a short drive of major job hubs in the Northeast and Midwest are seeing a surge in homebuyer demand, led by a Greater Boston community with a rich industrial past as a leather manufacturing capital.
Peabody, MA (ZIP 01960) climbed to the top of the annual Realtor.com® Hottest ZIP Codes of 2026 list, marking the small community’s triumphant comeback to the top 10 ranking after last appearing in 2021 at the third spot.
A city of roughly 55,000 inhabitants sitting just 20 minutes from downtown Boston, Peabody has greatly benefited from its close proximity to the metro’s economic engine, offering buyers a tempting mix of relative affordability, larger homes with distinctive character, and a more laid-back lifestyle.
The hottest ZIP code rankings from Realtor.com take into account two aspects of the housing market: market demand, as measured by unique viewers per property on the website, and the pace of the market as measured by the number of days a listing remains active.
The hottest areas are those that have the most unique viewers per listed property and fast-selling homes—a sign of limited supply.
This year’s 10 hottest ZIP codes include Montclair, NJ (07042); Sewell, NJ (08080); Fairport, NY (14450); Westfield, MA (01085); Livonia, MI (48154); Lititz, PA (17543); North Haven, CT (06473); New Berlin, WI (53151), and Wheaton, IL (60187).
The ranked ZIPs share two defining characteristics: all sit within in-demand suburban corridors near big, bustling cities, such as New York City, Philadelphia, and Chicago, and all are located either in the Northeast or Midwest—regions where inventory is structurally constrained by scarcity of buildable land and zoning restrictions, putting upward pressure on prices while heightening demand.
For-sale homes in the top 10 ZIPs saw on average three to five times more traffic than the typical listing nationwide and sold between 30 and 42 days faster than the U.S. norm during the first six months of 2026.
“This combination of high traffic and rapid sales underscores the urgency and competitiveness that define these markets,” says Realtor.com senior economist Hannah Jones. “Buyers in these areas are ready to act quickly and decisively, deviating from the more mellow national market.”
A suburb with industrial roots
Named after George Peabody, a local financier and philanthropist, the North Shore town rose to prominence in the 19th century as a global powerhouse of leather-processing and tanning, earning it the nicknames “Leather City” and “Tanner City.”
With its industrial heydey in the past, Peabody’s main commercial anchor is now the massive Northshore Mall, which is one of the region’s biggest employers as well as a top shopping destination.
“Peabody is a great community offering a neighborhood feel, a vibrant downtown, and close proximity to local highways,” Adeline Matton, a real estate agent and broker with Aluxety Realty serving Massachusetts, Maine, and New Hampshire, tells Realtor.com. “Peabody also has one of the lowest tax rates on the North Shore and its municipal electric department keeps utilities affordable.”
During the first half of this year, the typical listing in Peabody attracted more than four times the national average views per property and stayed on the market for just 20 days.
With a median asking price of $667,000 as of June—roughy $230,000 higher than the national metric—homes in Peabody are far from cheap in the conventional sense. Crucially, however, they sit 20% below the Boston metro average exceeding $800,000.
Jones notes that this price discount is important because Boston is Peabody’s No. 1 feeder market accounting for 70% of total buyer demand.
“Rather than pulling in outside relocators, Peabody’s popularity appears to reflect existing Boston-area residents shopping for a different town within reach of the same job market, a vote of confidence from people who already know the region well,” says Jones.
Meanwhile, New York City dominated Peabody’s out-of-market segment, with Big Apple buyers accounting for nearly 9% of the ZIP code’s listing traffic.
Matton confirms that Bostonians continue migrating to Peabody due to its relative affordability and easy access to Boston. She says that the community’s combination of shopping, businesses, and historic sites appeals to a wide range of buyers.
“Peabody has become one of the North Shore’s best value markets,” she says.
The broker notes that while the number of for-sale homes in Peabody has been on the rise lately, overall demand has remained strong.
The most coveted homes in Peabody are single-family, move-in-ready properties with three to four bedrooms in the $500,000-$800,000 price range.
However, even higher-end listings move quickly. According to Matton, a five-bedroom home just listed for $995,000 in Peabody generated 25 inquiries from prospective buyers in less than 24 hours.
Peabody’s median household income sits at just over $101,000 annually, which is about 17% below the salary typically required to comfortably afford the median-priced home, assuming a 20% down payment and a 6.55% mortgage rate.
Yet, local buyers are able to put down a median of nearly $90,000, suggesting that shoppers within the ZIP code are drawing on existing home equity rather than purchasing as first-time buyers.
Profile of a hottest-markets buyer
What the 2026 rankings show is that for buyers in the top-performing communities, affordability is not always the only deciding factor.
Data indicates that nine of the 10 hottest ZIP codes, with Peabody being the sole exception, are priced above their surrounding metro, signaling that buyers there are not just chasing the lowest price tag.
“They want it all: a nice home in the suburbs, the amenities to match, and easy access to an economic hub,” says Jones. “This reflects a broader shift in the buyer pool, which skews higher-earning and more willing to trade savings for space, amenities, and accessibility.”
Buyers are showing an increasing willingness to pay a premium for larger, well-established homes with plenty of character within commuting distance of big cities rather than compromising on square footage.
According to Jones, the profile of the 2026 hottest ZIP codes buyer that emerges from the report is that of a person with sufficient assets who is ready to compete for a home they want and focused on long-term value.
“These buyers are moving fast, thinking big, and choosing communities that offer the right blend of value, access, and quality of life,” adds the economist. “As mortgage rates remain high and inventory levels gradually recover, expect these kinds of high-performing, value-driven suburban areas to remain at the forefront of market activity.”
