Go (Mid)West — and East — for the hottest housing markets 

Well-regarded schools and parks, a vibrant food scene and relative proximity to big-city amenities and the airport? That's hot.

And that's Gahanna, Ohio, a suburb of Columbus and — for the second year in a row — holder of the top spot on Realtor.com's Hottest ZIP Code rankings. Columbus, meanwhile, has had one suburb or another on the list since its inception in 2017.

The Midwest holds three places in the top 10 this year, with the other two being St. Louis-adjacent Ballwin, Mo., (No. 2) and the Chicago suburb of Highland at No. 8.

Not bad, but the Northeast holds the most spots in the top 10: Three in Massachusetts, two in New Jersey, one in New York and one in Pennsylvania, where the Philadelphia area is making its first appearance on the list courtesy of the suburb of Macungie.

That leaves … well, no other regions of the country in the top spots. In fact, the West and Southwest don't show up on the list at all until you get to Bedford, a Dallas-Fort Worth-area suburb, at No. 37.

What do the top ZIPs have in common? They're for people who want to have their cake (more space, not too far from the big city) and afford it too.

"This year's hottest ZIPs reflect the focus on affordability that home shoppers have had over the last few years in the face of high housing costs," said Realtor.com Chief Economist Danielle Hale.

The report pointed out that every ZIP code in the top 10 offered a lower median list price — overall, or per square foot — compared to its surrounding metropolitan area or the rest of the nation's housing market (or both) in June.

So while Basking Ridge, N.J., which came in at No. 4, may seem spendy with its median listing price of $995k, it offers better deals than the broader New York City area.

Who's buying these "hot" homes? Look, these areas are competitive. "Hot," according to this ranking, means that properties have lots of unique views on Realtor.com and sell quickly — so winning buyers need to be ready to move fast and dig deep. 

Homes in these hot ZIPs also spent just 13 days on the market in June — more than a month (32 days) less than the median time on market nationally.

And during the first four months of the year, homes sold for 2.3% under asking on average. But in the hottest ZIP codes, it was more like 3.3% over asking.

With that in mind, it's not surprising that the average household income in the hottest ZIP codes was $95,000 vs. $76,000 nationally. The average credit score, meanwhile, was 757 vs. the national average of 734.