April Birmingham Market Update And Data From The Realtor.com Hotness Index

Rob Drum · Posted on

Birmingham Market Update


  • Both listings and sales saw a decrease year over year.
  • Average sale price made a huge jump. The largest jump in the year and a half we’ve been doing our monthly update!
  • The number of expired listings was cut in half. These are properties that are listed on MLS but expire unsold. 95% of properties that get listed are selling.

Birmingham Data From The Realtor.com Hotness Index

The national listing websites have access to so much interesting data about how buyers interact with listings. Realtor.com has utilized this data to create a monthly updated Hotness index.

This index has both a supply and demand component. The supply component is a function of days on market for properties in an area. The demand component utilizes the viewing data from the properties listed for sale on the website.

You can find more info about this index here

Hotness By Zipcode

  • I was surprised to see 35210 (Irondale) at the top spot.
  • Morris was also a surprise in the top 5.
  • I think this is great data for both listing agents and fix-and-flip investors.

Pageviews Per Property

  • This is the demand component of the index
  • Zipcodes achieve a higher number by having more pageviews than expected for a given listing.
  • 35210 (Irondale) and 35209 (Homewood) were far and away leaders in this category.

How Does The Birmingham-Hoover Metro Area Compare?

  • They also maintain “Hottness Rankings” for 300 major metro areas around the country.
  • Birmingham is currently right at the median at #154
  • This seems to be raising significantly in the last year. Up 26 spots.

Bonus – Nielsen Ratings

  • This is a rating used by advertisers to determine rates for different areas. The lower the rank, the more expensive it is to advertise on TV there.
  • Not sure how the Nielsen system reflects real estate prices, but I thought it was interesting so I wanted to include it.
  • There is a surprising mix of high income areas and lower income areas in the top 10.

Thanks for reading! I’d love to hear any thoughts or feedback at rob@robdrum.us