Five Ohio cities are among the top emerging housing markets in the country, according to The Wall Street Journal/Realtor.com Emerging Housing Markets Index .
And the difference between No. 1 in Santa Maria, California, and No. 3 in Canton is more than 2,493 miles, while the affordability of the homes in those two markets is a whopping $1.56 million difference.
Springfield also came in at No. 6 on the list, while Columbus sat at No. 8, Akron at No. 15 and Toledo at No. 17.
The quarterly index looks at a variety of factors, from page views of listings to the number of homes for sale and the number of days homes sit on the market before being sold.
Santa Maria is a hot real estate market in California, but many of the cities and metropolitan areas on the list, including the five in Ohio, were in what are considered more affordable places to buy a home.
Hannah Jones, a senior economic research analyst for Realtor.com, said this is likely being driven by the surge in home prices over the last couple of years and the rise in mortgage rates, which has put the cost of homeownership out of reach for many people in various communities.